Reckonings
by LetItFlow0992
Summary: Feeling undervalued and tricked after learning Kara is Supergirl, Lena carries out a plan to cause the hero pain but tragically finds out after she succeeds that there's more to the story. Guiltridden, she seeks to repair what the two of them once shared. Will they be able to forgive each other? Or is their bond destined to stay broken and shattered forever?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi. I really wanted to get this chapter up and this story started just before the fifth season premiered, but I had an unexpected increase of work hours at my job lately, so my writing time has been sorely limited and made me a little late. So, just in case, I apologise for any dsicrepancies there are between this and the show for those who have seen the new episode already.****This will be a short story; four, maybe five chapters. Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 1 - Retribution

The L Corp building was empty, which was already being seen by the populace of National City since the beginning of the day as unusual. The regular, everyday sight was the company's hundreds of employees, the members of its Board of Directors and its renowned CEO bustling throughout the rooms, departments and offices as they ensured their financial livelihoods remained stable. In light of the Lex Luthor attacks in the prior month, L Corp was doing all it could in the eyes of the public to distance itself again from the memory of its former founder. Some thought that was perhaps the reason why it was so uncharacteristically vacant. Those more in the know about it knew otherwise.

The workers' holiday had been organised by Lena Luthor three weeks in advance. The CEO had announced it formally through the building's public address system, and via office memos and e-mails. The employees had been surprised at the time just as the public was now, many intending to enquire the need for such an occasion right after their getting the first line, but the more they learned, they began to understand. In all the avenues of information in which she had given out the news, Ms. Luthor explained that they all needed to work long and work hard to absolve the company from being viewed once more as the criminal organisation her brother had founded. The workers reacted less urgently, realising the few weeks ahead were going to be drawn out with a heavy load, but they remained sceptical about the holiday itself, doubting that anything they could do to disassociate themselves from Lex Luthor a second time around could be accomplished in less than a month, especially since the first time that claim was made took the company a great deal longer to make the general populace believe it would stick.

To the surprise of the workers, National City and even her personal inner circle of friends, Lena Luthor was both confident and adamant in her plans. The days dwindled slowly by. The level of work grew fiercer and heavier. Lena herself was hardly ever seen; half the time, she was practically locked up in her office, delegating tasks, appointments and phone calls by the hour, or going down to a specific department whenever their work had fallen behind schedule and personally helped out to get them back in order.The other half of the time had her travelling to outside meetings that on record were stated to be too important to the survival of L Corp to be handled over the phone or by video conference.

By the beginning of the third week, it appeared Lena's ambitions were paying off as she had anticipated. L Corp's more positive reputation was re-emerging in the media, with news outlets and online blogs all sharing the story that the business was in the throes of a great comeback. Sales were on the increase again. Contracts were written, renewed and fulfilled. The company's position in the stock market was rising gradually.

And through it all, Lena made no announcement to cancel the holiday. The once-doubtful employees were in fact finding themselves relieved when she sent out an e-mail the previous day, reminding them the holiday was still on and congratulating and thanking them for sticking with her on her crusade. Tired and worn, but pleased with themselves, they concluded their shifts by thinking of the nice day of rest waiting for them the next morning.

Everything was all good, except in regards for one person. In the weeks following Lex Luthor's death, Kara Danvers had been worried incessantly about Lena and their friendship. Though she never said a word, it was far too visible to everyone around her that she was feeling something was wrong. Her other friends were concerned as well, not in the same way, but they saw that Lena's single-minded determination was creating distance and maybe even friction between the two. Alex, Kara's adopted sister, suspected otherwise. The first time that Kara and Lena met to talk after that day she discovered Kara in the room that the two had the conversation in alone without her glasses on and crying miserably. With a sudden rise of fear, Alex thought Kara had done it, that she had told Lena she was Supergirl. Kara refuted the idea, telling her that she and Lena had had a really bad argument.

Alex put the event aside, thinking from that the two would soon patch things up but as time passed and Kara and Lena barely spoke in their few encounters since, the suspicion she harboured crept back into her mind. The worst of it had been Pool Night, a week before the workers' holiday. It was the first one Lena had attended since her brother was defeated. Things appeared to be looking up again when Kara and Lena formed their usual team, but in spite of Kara's attempts at camaraderie, Lena stayed as frosty and distant as she had since the argument. Once Pool Night was over, Alex asked Kara if she had lied to her and told Lena her identity, believing with a hardening heart that Lena had rejected her sister. Kara had told her no.

**: * :**

The evening before the holiday though, the attitude seemed to have its long-awaited change. Out of the blue while she was on her last patrol for the night, Kara received a call from Lena inviting her out to lunch the next day. Kara expressed her hope of a reconciliation wildly, first telling Lena she would be there and following it up with a text to Alex to let her know. Alex initially wished to reply to her sister that she kept her guard up but decided it was better to let matters be.

Then, early the next morning, Lena sent Kara another text to meet her outside of L Corp for their lunchdate as there were some things she had forgotten to take care of at the office. Kara smiled, rolling her eyes in fond amusment that there was always something keeping Lena busy at L Corp. Passing it off as a sign that their friendship was finally overcoming its most recent hurdle, she answered back to tell Lena she'd be waiting on the front steps for her. Her mind already looking forward to the later meeting, she donned her costume, went outside and took off on her first patrol of the day.

**:**** * :**

All the preparations were set. Or so the representative of Leviathan had assured Lena that they were. Not for the first time, Lena experienced a sense of dread about her newfound allegiance with the mysterious organisation that proved themselves to have been in league with her brother and behind Tessmacher's betrayal of her. When the representative had come to her the first time, appearing unexpectedly in her office and revealing whom it was he worked for, all she thought of was ordering him to get out but he was determined to explain to her the meaning of his impromptu appointment. He informed her that Lex had acted outside of the terms of their partnership with him, explaining to Lena that Leviathan had a set of rules and morals to live by with their operations, the chief of which was that no lives, enemy or innocent, would be taken by them. She remembered the dedicated glare on his face as he reiterated that rule; no actor or liar she knew could manage to fake that level of fanatical yet steeled emotion.

"Why are you here?" she had asked him.

"Because our goal in our alliance with your late brother," he answered, "was to show the world through fear that much like our own kind, there will be individualistic alien beings who will seek to bring harm to the innocent. We cannot just blindly allow them into society as a whole without knowledge of a singular intention.To this end, we had to make Earth lose trust in aliens."

"And you thought that making them lose trust in Supergirl was the best way," Lena concluded.

The representative nodded. "No matter what your brother did, Superman was untouchable that way. There was no conceivable way to make the people of Earth think he would turn on us, not after the knowledge that he's been here since he was a baby and raised by humans became public."

"Supergirl, on the other hand, appeared with little to no explanation. From out of nowhere, against Superman's established history, there was another Kryptonian on Earth. Now that we could work with."

"And that failed, and not just because of my brother," Lena said.

"Yes, mankind's faith in the Kryptonians has become too difficult to shake off entirely," the representative agreed. "Which is why Leviathan believes it's time to adopt a different method."

"What do you mean?" Lena asked, feeling uneasy again.

"Your brother, Lex Luthor, is dead. The only known ordinary human to bring the Kryptonians to heel," the representative said. "Not even your mother was as successful, but you could be. We know Supergirl trusts you, Ms. Luthor. We can use that against her, together."

"Why would I want to help you, after what you've caused me?" Lena replied sharply.

The representative formed an apologetic expression on his face, one Lena was sure was false, as he said, "We are also aware that Supergirl has let you down. We're offering you a chance to show her how much she has hurt you, if you'll help us."

Lena frowned, her face and emotions turning edgy as she contemplated her feelings. "What's your plan?" she asked guardedly.

"My superiors are of the opinion that the demise of your brother has instilled a false sense of security in Superman and Supergirl. Now that he's gone, they believe none of us can harm them anymore. Our new goal is to change that impression. We want them to know they should fear _all_ Earthlings," the representative answered.

"And how do you intend to do that?"

"By torturing one of them," the representative said casually. "We want you to deliver Supergirl to us."

After the meeting had concluded and the man was gone, Lena assumed that she must have looked stricken when he stated how Leviathan had wanted her to help them as a brief bout of disappointment flashed across his face before again reassuming his cordial demeanour. She knew it certainly felt like she had; the moment she understood the meaning behind his words, her mind was bombarded with various and violent images of Supergirl strapped to a chair or onto a medical table, men and women with masks and souless clinical eyes standing around her, poking and prodding her body with knives and surgical needles, drowning her in a tank, electrocuting her, dousing her with Kryptonite gas. As much as she wanted to hurt Supergirl, all that went beyond what she ever intended. It crossed a line. But before she could voice her disgust and send the man away herself, the representative smiled at Lena, got up and departed, saying Leviathan would allow her some time to think and they would have him contact her another time.

That other time had only been a short three days after, when Midnight had appeared, and Lena had confronted Kara over the truth. The anger that was born in her after knowing Kara was Supergirl from Lex burned again and somehow Leviathan learned of it. The representative called her on her phone, informing her his superiors wanted to meet with her to discuss terms of their possible partnership.

Lena agreed.

The first meeting took place in an abandoned warehouse just outside Central City. The representative greeted Lena after she pulled her personal car up in front of the main doors and he escorted her inside, walking beside her until they entered a blank, empty room where he fell back to the door. Deeper in the room, a woman dressed in nondescript black businesswear flanked by four armed bodyguards was waiting for her.

"Ms. Luthor, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Lena's eyes roamed across the room, expecting to find more people. When it transpired there were none, she turned warily to the mysterious woman. "If I recall what your man over there," she said, pointing to the representative, "told me, the word was superiors. As in the plural sense."

"He told you the truth," the woman answered. "The leadership of Leviathan observes some very strict rules. Only one superior personally supervises a single operation. If new developments in one operation should jeopardise others, then the superiors in charge of the others are to be contacted whether or not the developments will cause them trouble. From there, it's decided if we should continue the potentially troublesome mission or not. Even then though, no names and anything outside basic enquiries are exchanged."

"So, if I go along with this, then you two are the only people I deal with?" Lena guessed.

"_If_ you go along with this, yes," the woman nodded. "If you don't, then we scrap the whole operation."

"You'll just let me walk away?" Lena raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Of course. You don't know our names. We can disguise ourselves, change our voices," the woman answered simply. "Besides, as you've been told, we don't kill anyone in our missions. Hurt, yes. Torture, when the need calls for it. But never murder."

Lena crossed her arms. "Maybe I'd believe that, if my brother had followed it."

"Your brother," the woman said slowly. "He committed those acts in his name and without our blessing. All we've done is provide him the means and resources to combat his enemy."

Lena glowered, remembering what she had been informed of about Leviathan's original plan. "You were going to cut him loose once he had achieved what you wanted him to do."

"With what happened with the Claymore satellite and Argo City, that had become necessary," the woman responded in a dry, callous tone. "But we never had to worry about that in the end, did we?"

Ignoring the barb and withstanding the urge to flinch, Lena asked, "You say that you'll scrap the mission entirely if I say no? You won't pick it up or continue it later?"

"Oh, we'll continue it later if we find another way to get one of the Kryptonians," the woman rebutted. "It's too much of a priority to let go of it forever, but I'm going to have to say whomever we try next may not want to deliver the target in, well, one piece."

That time, Lena knew she appeared stricken, and for good reason. Leviathan needed someone to hand Supergirl or Superman to them, meaning they could only put their trust in a person that was furious with them, like her brother had been. The distressing concern there was that people who got angry at Superman and Supergirl all shared the same desire: wanting the two dead. Was she angry with Supergirl? Yes. Did she want her dead? No, but others would. Her conflict engulfing her, Lena finally realised in spite of all the hate there was dwelling within her, there was still some small part of her that cared. Not enough to drown out her desire to teach Supergirl a lesson, but enough to want to ensure that the person she once called friend did not end up dead.

Lena stepped forward, coming up close to the woman and giving her a hard stare. "If we're going to do this, then I have terms. To me, they're non-negotiable."

The woman nodded, gesturing for her to continue. Lena did. "I am not like you or my brother. I am not a villain. I don't want to kill Supergirl nor do I want her to be physcially harmed. You say that you want her and Superman to fear you? Then prove just that. When I bring her to you, make her feel fear. Intimidation tactics only."

"Is that all?" the woman asked.

"No, we'll do this at L Corp, with me there to make sure you follow through," Lena retorted.

The woman stayed silent after Lena's correction. For a short series of longlasting moments, Lena thought she had pressed things too far but remained stoic, preparing for the answer. Eventually, the woman spoke again.

"I will confer with my colleagues to see if your terms will satisfy Leviathan's aims as a whole. Whether or not they do, my man behind you will be in contact again. Good day, Ms. Luthor."

In spite of the apprehension the meeting had left her with, it took a single day for the news of Leviathan's decision to reach her. For the third time, the representative called on Lena and cited that his superiors had voted to accede to her conditions. When it hit Lena this meant the ball was rolling, she knew that she was committed. The weeks that followed were difficult to manage. Her conscience went on to plague her as she saw Kara and Supergirl on and off, forcing her to keep working and using her hatred to power her through. She kept meeting the woman from Leviathan at different locations as they arranged the plan, disguising their appointments as official L Corp business affairs. They had the last one three days before the workers' holiday, settling the last parts of the plan into stone when, as they parted ways, the woman said something to Lena that made her stop in her tracks, that made her want to throw up, and caused her to realise that even though the trap would be carried out in the way she wanted, it may be the true point of no return for her and Kara's friendship.

"Ms. Luthor, I thought it may interest you to know Supergirl has not told anyone else you know the truth. Not even her beloved sister," she bitterly recalled the woman's words.

"So?" she had replied, trying to make herself sound indifferent.

"So, she is giving you time and space to get over your anger towards her, thinking, maybe believing, the two of you can work things out. The mark of a good friend. Imagine how she'll feel after all this. She'll never forgive you. She'll even hate you. But then again, that is what you want. To have her feel the same pain and betrayal she put you through."

Lena turned abruptly, the feeling of bile rising up in her throat, and she deflected the question.

"And soon enough she will."

_And it'll be a hate that I deserve_, she thought privately in regret.

Since then, until the present, she had fought to contain her guilt, steeling herself for the upcoming moment. In her mind, she ran through all the preparations. Except for her and the group of Leviathan mercenaries waiting downstairs for her signal, the building was empty of anyone who might interfere. The elevator was fully operational, with all the equipment needed for the second phase ready in the basement level. Supergirl had no doubt informed the DEO where she would be during lunch and so they would not be alarmed if she vanished for a couple of hours. Everything was all set to go. This was it. The point of no return.

Lena sighed and looked down at the tiny electronic gadget she had in her hand. Summoning up her anger once more, she pressed the black button on the gadget's surface. The button flashed green for the brief second she held it down, knowing from it that the mercenaries were on their way up. Five minutes passed by slowly and then she heard them entering the floor. Hurriedly, she placed the gadget inside her desk. It was time to call Supergirl.

"Kara, help," she whispered quietly.

**: * :**

_Kara, help._

Supergirl stopped in midflight, her eyes widening with worry as she heard Lena in the distance. Without hesitation, she concentrated her ears towards L Corp. Her worry transformed into fear as the all too familiar brutal noise of office doors being kicked open were followed by the numerous metallic clicks of safety catches releasing.

"Ms. Luthor, you're coming with us," an authoritative, threatening voice spoke.

"And if I refused?" Lena dared boldly.

"I suggest you don't," the threatening voice responded.

That was more than enough for Kara to be galvanised into action. Pivoting, she dashed off through the air, heading directly for L Corp.

**: * :**

Lena heard Supergirl arriving before she ever saw her. The slashing zip of airspace being penetrated at ultrahigh speed resonated clearly in her ears, pursued by the quick swish of the balcony door opening in the second it took to blink an eye and the jerking halt as Supergirl appeared, her cape fluttering down to cover her back as she stood between Lena and the Leviathan mercenaries.

"I might have something to say about that," the Kryptonian heroine said coolly.

Whatver doubt or guilt Lena was experiencing in the days before faded rapidly as soon as she physically registered the woman. Her anger towards Supergirl quietly spurring her on, Lena slipped her hand into her coat pocket.

"Lena, are you alright?"

Her head snapped up to answer Supergirl's question, wondering if the hero had heard or sensed her surreptitious movement. "I'm fine," she spoke, drawing the object within the pocket into her hands, curling her fingers around its cylindrical shape.

"Good," Supergirl said as she turned her attention back to the mercenaries. "Lucky for you, the only things you've done wrong so far have been breaking and entering. So you people can leave unless you really want a fight."

"There'll be no fight, Supergirl," one of the mercenaries replied to her. Supergirl realised from his voice he was the one she heard threatening Lena. "And as for the breaking and entering, well, that's practically nonexistent. We were invited up here."

Supergirl froze, confused by the certainty in which the man had spoken. Recognising the opportunity the pause provided her in an instant, Lena acted. She produced the object from her pocket, a metallic syringe made from lead, and plucked off the stopper to reveal the Kryptonite needlepoint fastened to the end of it. Buckling as she sensed the element near her, Supergirl half-turned. Lena leaped forward and jabbed the tip straight into Supergirl's left arm. Supergirl let out a gasp of shock. Lena ignored it and pushed down on the plunger, flushing the hidden contents of the syringe into Supergirl's bloodstream. The two women exchanged a look; one with horror, the other a cold, determined fury. Once the syringe was emptied and Lena removed the needle, Supergirl staggered away, her mind growing numb as whatever had been in the syringe began to affect her and added to the effects of the Kryptonite. She opened her mouth to speak but found she could only come out with choked sounds and hoarse, whispering breath. Lena did not respond, not even as Supergirl succumbed to the serum she had injected into her and tumbled helplessly to the floor.

The mercenary commander, also unmoved by Supergirl's plight, switched on his shoulderpad communicator and reported into it, "Inform the superiors. Target procured. Permission to start on the next phase."

"Our client present any issues?" came the reply.

"None," the mercenary answered. "She carried out her part as promised."

"Then continue."

"Understood," the mercenary concluded, turning the communicator off and motioning two of his squadmates to Supergirl.

Following his order, the duo stepped forward and lifted Supergirl up off the floor, throwing her limp arms over their shoulders. After making a thorough check that they had a secure and steady support on her, they nodded at their leader. He acknowledged their readiness and turned to Lena.

"Well, Ms. Luthor?"

"Follow me," Lena responded, discarding the syringe and forcing herself to look away from Supergirl, bitterly wanting to avoid seeing any guilt-tripping, silent pleas for help from the heroine.

The group of mercenaries separated, giving way, and allowed her the space to move past them and take the lead. As she approached the open doors, they then folllowed as asked with their commander and the two carrying Supergirl between them trailing closely behind. Like a military procession, they marched along the corridor towards the elevator, their footfalls the only sources of sound able to break the silence. Reaching the elevator, Lena pressed the button to open its doors and moved into the car, walking over to the far side to stare at the wall. The mercenaries entered, two at a time, until they and Supergirl were all inside. Standing by the controls, the commander hit the basement level on the list of floor options. The doors gradually slid shut and the car shifted, trembling as it started to work its way down.

The transit from her office floor to the basement soon became an arduous test of endurance for Lena as, without any alternate noise to distract her, the invariably tense mood of the situation turned morbid as she struggled with the temptation to glance back at Supergirl. Why, she did not exactly know. In the short span of minutes between the office and the elevator, Supergirl would have figured out aid would not be coming from her, at least not the kind of aid she wanted Lena to give her. That look of anger the woman from Leviathan had told her to expect was likely being expressed at that moment, Lena thought. But still she did not look. For some reason, she was afraid to.

Minute by minute slowly ticked by, until at last the car came to rest at the basement. Once the doors were opened, Lena did not even turn, listening as the mercenaries vacated the car the same way they had entered it. Quietly, she exited after them, insistently averting herself from looking at Supergirl by taking in the differences to the room.

The basement was originally designed to hold L Corp's storage and archive facilities; on any other day, the entire floor would be taken up and filled with carefully placed and strenuously organised filing cabinets and large cupboards, but right then, there was a wide, empty space with only a single object occupying it at its very centre. Lena was drawn to the chair, instigated by a repeat of the nightmarish visions of Supergirl being experimented on or vivisected. She was not surprised. The chair was fitted with restraints, just like a torture chair or a medical table would be in a horror or dark science-fiction film. But, as she looked around further, her fears subsided as she saw the implements the woman and the representative had demonstrated to her at their meetings, and the resolve to see this day through came back in their absence.

She looked up as Supergirl was dragged over to the chair, forced to sit on the seat and watch as her arms and legs were strapped tightly to the frame. The commander approached her, inspecting the restraints closely and then examining Supergirl herself.

"Amazing, isn't it?" he finally spoke, whispering to her but loud enough so Lena could hear him. "The serum we've put in you. The liquid, just harmless water. But why the weakness? Simple. That water was holding miniscule fragments of Kryptonite, so I'm afraid there's no you getting out of this by yourself for a long while." He turned to his squad. "Disarm weapons, and take your choice," he said, pointing to the collection of implements arranged against the wall.

For the first time, the mercenaries displayed open emotion, leering or grinning sadistically at getting the chance to inflict pain on Supergirl. Lena felt her heart pang as the thought they would forget their orders sank in. Most of them picked up the shock blasters, designed to look like conventional machine guns but the true source of ammunition was nothing more than a short spray of electricity loaded into a single cartridge that never went further than a foot from the muzzle. Lena was almost driven to act but they took their positions a full metre away from Supergirl, leading her to quietly sigh in relief. The remaining three each took up a whip that was made of foam, a spear that was fashioned to look sharp but in all actuality was blunt, and a hangman's rope that if pulled hard enough would snap in half. The commander considered all of his team's options and selected a handgun, a miniaturised version of the shock blasters.

"Once everyone else is finished with you, I'm going to level this at your temple and pull the trigger," he sneered at Supergirl, causing Lena to start, but before she took a step to intervene, the commander sent a sly wink her way. Unnerved, Lena shrank back.

The commander waved his hand, gesturing to the one holding the hangman's rope that he could go first. The mercenary accepted, proceeding over to Supergirl witn an intentful pace and hooked the noose around her neck, securing it with a jerk. The sharp pull did not even bring one reaction out of Supergirl, mystifying Lena. At last, she surrendered to the temptations plaguing her and gazed right at the heroine.

What she saw left her stunned.

Not once, never once, in the prolonging moment she held Supergirl's eyes in her own, did the Kryptonian look at anyone else. Not her captors. Not the noose that was constricting her throat, or the whip, the spear, or even the array of shock blasters being held ready. As expected when the rope was pulled, it broke off at the knot, leaving half of itself as a ring around Supergirl's neck, but the heroine never moved an inch.

The only evidence that Supergirl was acting otherwise was her reddened, tearstained face and her sparkling, sad eyes. Lena swore her heart had just leaped dangerously as she regarded the watery lines going down Supergirl's face. Not all of them could be fresh, Lena voiced mentally, she would have been in a loud sobbing fit for that to be the case. But one thing became clear to her as the commander signalled to the agent holding the spear to move in next; Supergirl did not care about the deadly threats the mercenaries were posing themselves as and maybe she never had at all. All she looked at, all she focused on, was Lena.

From that instant alone, Lena knew she was going to falter. The guilt she battled to keep under wraps was swelling uncontrollably, dominating the iron resolve she had been relying on for a whole month as it grew in size. It flowed into her mind, mixing its potency into her lines of thought and creating questions that it demanded she answer. How long had Supergirl been staring at her like that? Why was she reacting that way? Could she possibly have taken her vendetta against the heroine farther than she had intended and hurt her friend more than how she had been when it was revealed to her Supergirl and Kara were the one and the same?

She tried to answer the first question as the mercenary wielding the spear pointed the weapon at Supergirl's throat, lifting the ring of rope casually with the blade, and then with a monstrous, lustful expression on his face, lowered the tip to gingerly trace shapes across her lower abdomen. Again, Supergirl ignored everything for Lena. Lena's heart convulsed as her attempts to find an answer brought her back to her observation about Supergirl's tears.

The redness of the heroine's cheeks was an obvious indicator, since the sobbing fit was completely out of the question due to how quiet Supergirl had been, that she had been shedding tears longer than the time already spent in the basement. Had Supergirl been this way the entire time since she realised she'd been betrayed?

Lena ignored the arrival of the new question by going back to the second. The longer she stared at Supergirl as she searched for ways to answer it while the commander ordered the spear-wielding mercenary to pull away and called upon those armed with the shock blasters to get ready to fire, instructing them to target non-vital areas so Supergirl could still feel the brunt of the whip as the last mercenary struck her, the more Lena came to realise that the trauma she was exacting from Supergirl was not fear. It was not even anger, or hatred, fury or vengeance.

It was regret.

Regret _and heartbreak_.

Heartbreak, Lena thought wildly, reeling as she tried to locate some of her lost resolve. Why would she be moved like this from heartbreak? Supergirl was the one to let her down first.

A mere moment later, the torrent that was her confused musings came to a crashing halt when, with a mighty explosion, the doors to the elevator blew outward. The Leviathan mercenaries jumped, their work on Supergirl forgotten as they dropped the blasters and raced to get their real weapons. By the time they had, a contingency of people led by Guardian were rushing out of the car. The DEO had come to the rescue.

"Ms. Luthor, get out of here!" the commander roared at Lena. As his order registered, the doors to the stairwell leading up to the ground floor were blown apart as more DEO agents poured into the basement.

Purely on instinct, not bothering to question how they could have come so quickly, Lena concluded there was only one road of escape left to her. There was a secret door not in the original blueprints that she had constructed in the north wall, intended for use in an evacuation should access to the stairwell be barred. Her thoughts turned towards survival, Lena decided it was the perfect time to use it. So she ran, not seeing Guardian dashing to Supergirl's side and undoing and removing the noose from her neck, or that Supergirl had noticed her escape and clumsily got up to run after her, her body still afflicted by the Kryptonite serum.

"LENA!"

The part of Lena that still cared tugged at her, commanding her to go back, but the part of her that was angry and the part of her that was confused worked too well together, proving themselves to be the stronger force, and she kept running. Whether by luck or by determination, Lena reached the secret door and flung her hand to the security keypad beside it to punch in the code to unlock it. But before she could press he final number, the sharp and familiar resoanace of a handheld gun's safety catch being turned off echoed from right behind her.

Lena froze, swallowing, her hand hovering over the panel. One of the DEO agents must have pursued her, she thought, and she had a good idea on which one. Slowly, gradually, she moved her hand away from the pad and raised it and the other one in the air, turning around and sporting a false confident smile on her lips in the hope she was wrong.

She wasn't. The smile collapsed immediately as she withheld a furious Alex Danvers in her gaze. A silent gulp lobbed up her throat. Her eyes flew from the hot incense in the agent's eyes to the pistol gripped tightly in her hands, her forefingers held ready against the trigger. Lena exhaled steadily and she looked up to face Alex again.

"Well, what's it going to be, Director?" she said quietly. "Arrest me or shoot me?"

"How about something different?" Alex seethed with venom in her voice. "Like telling me why the hell you've done this to Supergirl? After every time the three of us have worked together? After all the effort and hard work you've put in to earn our trust, trust that we actually gave you? Why the hell did you pull this sick, disgusting stunt?"

This was what Lena had wanted. Anger for anger. Betrayal for betrayal. It may not be Supergirl, she realised, but this was a close second for her. Her decision made, Lena's fury at all the secrets and lies returned in its full supremacy, raging inside her. And yet she maintained a leash on it, keeping it tranquil so as not alarm Alex into discharging her weapon. Her mouth spasmed, twsting into a scowl. Her eyes burned violently in dissonant quiet as she lowered her hands.

"Drop the act, Danvers," she said.

"What was that?" Alex demanded.

"I said drop the act, _Alex_. I know the truth. About Supergirl. About Kara."

Alex recoiled, flinching as if Lena had just physically slapped her. Scarcely daring to believe what she had just heard, she waited for Lena to recant her words. When she did not, the disbelief Alex was holding appeared in full fruition on her face. Coldly, Lena watched her, gauging the complete reaction as Alex worked out the revelation and all it implied in her mind.

"You?" Alex tried to speak, inevitably dropping back into her contemplation upon recognising she was too caught in the throes of her emotions to mouth a whole sentence. Tears began to fall from her eyes, permitting Lena to think about resuming her escape, but just as the idea had emerged, Alex's face changed, transforming from the inducing disbelief into a cross, ungoverned rage.

"You WHAT?!" Alex spat. "Then why this? She trusted you! From the moment the two of you first talked, she trusted you when everyone else doubted you!"

"Let me be clear. I didn't figure things out, and neither you or her was the person who told me," Lena hissed.

"Then who did?"

"Lex! Of all people, Lex!" Lena screamed angrily. "He told me! Showed me security videos the day he died!"

Alex quickly found a second time that her rage at Lena was being thwarted by another of her emotions. This time it was shock. Lena had known for a month. She had known for _an entire month_, and from the last, worst person she could ever learn it from.

"That - - - that long," she spoke, as she put everything together. Lena's distance from Kara. The supposed argument from the time Midnight showed up. All the business meetings Lena had claimed to go out on. Everything, all of it, had led up to this day. And at the end of it all, Alex reconciled that she had been two things for that period of time, maybe even longer with the second thing. The first was that she had been blind. The second, as she recalled vividly all the times she had told Kara telling Lena the truth was a bad idea, was that she had been selfish.

"She was - - - going to tell you that day, but - -

"But what?" Lena asked, her curiosity rousing to dim her hate.

"I prevented her from doing it. Again," Alex confessed.

"Again?" Lena exclaimed.

"She wanted to tell you so much. So many times. But I always talked her out of it," Alex replied.

Her mouth nearly falling open all the way, Lena shook her head, surprised once more by a long-kept secret. Supergirl had intended to tell her all along? At multiple times? But ultimately never did because the woman standing presently in front of her with a gun levelled at her chest had convinced her not to?

Not even knowing it was coming, a small disbelieving laugh escaped from Lena. "Then I guess I'm not the only one with trust issues here," she surmised. "You have almost just as much a part in this as I do."

Her words struck Alex as though she had been the one with the gun in her hands and had pulled the trigger. Alex stiffened as that last revelation hit home, with her conscience strangely accepting that what Lena said was true. Seeing her hesitation, Lena circled back to the keypad and put in the last number. The speaker emitted an electronic buzz as the locks of the door unclamped. Lena glanced back at Alex, judging her to still be semi-catatonic, and flung the door open, running out to freedom. Alex finally came to when the door rebounded off the wall, swinging shut, and she made a half-hearted attempt to go after Lena. She halted, sensing there was someone behind her, and she turned.

Almost hanging from the grip she had on a nearby filing cabinet stood Kara. Alex very nearly cried, wanting to console her sister, but something frightening about the way Kara looked stopped her from moving. With a rush of startled misery, she discovered what it was. There was an uncharacteristic storm of hatred brewing in her sister's usually peaceful, joyous eyes. Before she recoiled, Alex had assumed from her first glance Kara's friendship with Lena was beyond repair on both sides, but then the thing that made her tremble heartbreakingly was understood.

Kara's eyes, and therefore her hatred, was not set on the escape door or the memory of Lena. Kara was looking a little too far to the right for that. Kara's hatred was directed, focused, on her.

* * *

**Chapter 2 coming up.**


	2. Chapter 2

**As with the first chapter, I had intended to get this one out earlier than this, but before I knew it, when I finished the groundwork, I immediately started on the third part, went on to the fourth and then the fifth and final. Yes, that's right. This story will be five chapters long.**

**So here, for your reading pleasure, is what happens after Lena escapes from Alex. Please remember this story was formed before the latest season premiered so there will be vast differences from canon. Enjoy. **

* * *

Chapter 2 - Ruminations

National City was none the wiser about the incident that had transpired at L Corp when a new day dawned the following morning. The citizens commenced their daily morning routine as usual. Adults working the day shifts travelled to their jobs, some of them moaning about why they had to work so early; those waiting to work in the afternoon got up out of bed and spent their morning either doing chores around their homes or sitting in front of their television sets watching a streamed program or their favourite movie; and those scheduled for nightwork slept on close to lunch.

Some parents remained at home to look after their babies. Children went to school, hoping to catch a glimpse of their favourite heroine soaring through the sky. A few teenagers here and there absconded from learning an education by getting up to mischief, hanging out with friends, or both. Everything started out perfectly ordinary, maybe even totally happy.

It was when the routine had gotten into full sway National City realised as a whole that one constant in their lives was missing. Noone had seen Supergirl. True, she had only been notable in their living memory for a few short years, especially when compared to how Metropolis worshipped Superman, but to them, the young superhero had become such a regular day-to-day appearance that she was now considered a standard rather than an exception. Therefore, to the populace that loved her, Supergirl was missed. And when she was missed, that led to worry, led to the one concerned question.

Where was she?

**: * :**

In the dire rush to get Kara back to the DEO and its infirmary, Brainiac performed an observation of her, determining the hero's health as Alex and James watched by his side. Kara whispered something hoarsely to him, after which his face grew pale. Noticing his alarm, Alex and James both asked him what was wrong.

"There's Kryptonite in her bloodstream. If she's right about the amount, it's mild and won't be harmful in the long term. It'll be out of her system within a day," was his reply.

"I don't care! I want it out of her now!" Alex shrieked.

"Then I'm going to need help," Brainiac replied coolly.

The minute they arrived at the DEO, as James raced to get Kara to a medic and Alex ran to the Director's office to take control of the situation, Brainiac headed for his lab and sent an urgent transmission to the thirty-first century, imploring Winn Schott for assistance. Winn was there in less than an hour.

Without wasting time, Winn started utilising equipment to develop a software program to locate any traces of Kryptonite inside a person's body. After monitoring Kara with the program and discovering the microscopic crystals circulating through her blood vessels, he and Brainiac outlined a treatment plan for Kara. Immediately from there, the medical staff of the DEO worked around the clock, following the details of the plan to the letter, flushing the Kryptonite serum out of Kara with intravenous fluids, and examining and reassessing her condition every half hour.

When informed by a tense James that Kara had explicitly forbidden her from coming in to see her before the treatment was begun, a disheartened Alex set to work on interrogating those from Leviathan that survived the firefight, calling in J'onn to aid her with them when they initially resisted. Even with the mind-reading capabilities the Martian had, they were not able to get anything. All of the mercenaries had the same story; they had been contacted, each one by a different person, and told to head to L Corp and carry out the mission to capture and psychologically torture Supergirl. No names, no identities besides their own were there to divulge and every call had come from an unlisted number.

Alex tried again to visit Kara around ten o'clock that evening but her sister, almost fully recovered and conscious, vehemently told her to leave. Alex withdrew to her office, dealing with her sadness alone until Kelly visited and saw she needed comfort. By eleven o'clock, Kara was declared Kryptonite-free but was advised to stay at the DEO for the rest of the night. Reluctantly, Kara complied. The rate of observations of her health were decreased as she rested soundly but she never appeared to completely relax. At around three in the morning she was woken up by J'onn and Nia, the both of them worried about her mental wellbeing and her continued aggravation toward Alex. All either of them were able to divine was, while Kara was well, she was rooted deeply into such an immense well of misery that neither telepath could hope to penetrate it.

**: * :**

At five o'clock, a clandestine meeting was held in the Director's office. James, J'onn, Kelly, Nia, Brainy and Winn all stood in front of Alex's desk, ready to insist upon the one sole thing: the capture and arrest of Lena Luthor. The intensity, and later as it proved the controversy, held within the meeting spread throughout the government building like a rife disease, dividing the department on two fronts, separate on all aspects but one. Both parties were left dissatisfied by how things had turned out with Lena.

One half displayed theirs smarmily, giving an airy confidence to the opposition, saying old cliches like, "We should have seen this coming" or "I told you so", or presenting themselves as people who never once believed any of Lena's claims that she wanted to be different and declared their opinions had proved to be correct. The opposition never really fought back against them; many were genuinely hurting, having met, talked to, or worked with Lena in person, and lamented why they did not heed the doubts they had banished from their minds long ago.

Her Kryptonian powers long since restored, Kara overheard every single heated conversation, sifting the words apart so she could understand them. When she managed to hone in on the meeting and listened to all her friends' demands for Lena to be arrested, something snapped inside of her. She was fed up. Quietly, she got up off the sunbed. The medic on duty spotted her movement, surveying her carefully to see if what she was doing was the result of some sort of knee-jerk reaction or whether she had gotten on her feet to get something her body needed. When he ascertained that neither was the case and the steps that Kara took were sure and deliberate, he walked in and barred her way.

"Miss Danvers, you have not exactly been cleared yet," he said.

Kara regarded him with cooling fury that he was not used to witnessing from her that he almost trembled. "Is there anything else you need from me?" she asked him.

"Well, no. But I'd advise you to be cautious, if you're thinking of returning to duty so soon," the medic responded shakily. "Spend today at home, at least. There might be some concerns other than your physical health."

"You have no idea," Kara almost whispered, and then she was gone. In a matter of nanoseconds, she changed out of the absorption suit meant to soak in the rays of the solar lights installed above the bed and back into her regular costume.

At the Director's office, the argument had continued unabatingly, but Alex was finally beginning to make sense of where everyone stood on the discussion. James, it seemed, was the main one pushing for Lena's arrest. Everyone else was actually conflicted; J'onn was insistent that the rules should be followed but he was wavering on how best to proceed with that, given his worries on Kara's mental condition. Nia and Winn only wanted Lena arrested because they wanted to know why Lena had betrayed them all. Kelly was attempting to mediate between her brother's outbursts and informing Alex calmly why the arrest had to be made. Brainy was pointing out the pros of everyone else's arguments.

Alex stood up, hoping the motion would silence the whole thing, but nothing happened. Then somehow over the entire din, she heard the familiar rushing noise she had known since childhood and she let her head hang with a sigh, knowing what to expect. When the room went quiet, she lifted her head back up and glanced to her left. Kara, no, Supergirl, she reminded herself to think, stood at the side of her desk, giving all their friends a tranquil glare. James moved, obviously aiming to talk her into going back to the medical wing. The dangerous look in Supergirl's eyes flared, warning him off. After he stepped back, the fury relaxed partly into its original shape as she gazed at everyone in turn.

"I want one thing understood," she spoke at last, startling everyone with the potent amount of rage in her voice. "None of you are going anywhere near Lena. You are not going to arrest her. You aren't going to confront her. You aren't going to call her up and blame her for everything that happened yesterday. You do, and I'll know."

"Kara," James tried to intervene bravely, but a second flare of anger from Supergirl scared him into going into reluctant quiet.

"None of you will do anything to her," Kara reiterated.

"We have to. At least, the DEO has to," J'onn argued rationally. "It's bound to serve Earth law, a law Miss Luthor has broken."

"But it won't ever make it to court if I deny it happened," Kara countered, shocking everyone but Alex.

"That would be lying and an obstruction of justice," Brainy elected to point out.

"I'll do it regardless," Kara proclaimed. Surveying the room once more, she strained her intent to them again. "Leave Lena alone."

This time, noone spoke against her. Silence reigned throughout the office again as the confusion the others were feeling set in. Each person but Kara and Alex was sure that all of them had just asked themselves the same question.

Why was Kara asking this of them?

Out of any of the people standing in the room, she should be the last person to advocate any kindness or mercy for Lena. Everything Lena had done was committed against her specifically. For Kara though that did not appear to matter. It was as if they were in the wrong in her eyes for even suggesting Lena's arrest, which did not make any sense to them at all. Lena violated her promise to be different from her family. Lena violated her friendship with Kara, their bond of trust, and worse violated Kara herself.

In the midst of the bewilderment, James turned to Alex, expecting her to professionally refute Kara's demands, but the director remained sullen, her eyes looking contrite while staring at her sister. He glanced over at Kara where, for a moment, he thought he caught the younger sibling paying attention to Alex's emotional state, only for her to realign her focus back to him and the others as she waited for their answer. What happened between them at L Corp, he wondered, calling back the memory of him attempting to go after Kara after she stumbled away from him once he had gotten her free of the chair, but one of the mercenaries had intercepted him and forced him to take part in the fight. When the battle was over, he remembered the direction that Kara had run off in and took off, eventually locating both her and Alex by the north wall. Though both women were quiet, high-strung emotions and stress were clearly radiating from them; Alex consumed with despondency, Kara expressing despair and anger. Back then, James had not been majorly concerned by it, given the fact he was driven by the urgency that Kara was suffering from the effects of Kryptonite and he wanted to get her to the DEO for immediate treatment.

Now though, he thought, what happened appeared to be a really important matter for Alex not to start citing the rulebook. Before he could say anything to find out, Nia and Kelly beat him into offering Kara a response.

"Alright, Kara. Lena won't hear from me until you say otherwise," Nia promised.

"Fine," Kelly answered, her eyes gauging Alex's temperament, saddened by her girlfriend's visible stress. When Alex did not rise to argue, she knew she made the right call but it broke her heart nonetheless to see Alex so vulnerable.

As soon as the two had spoken, James realised the fight was over. Brainiac had fallen quiet, appearing to no longer want to voice his support in adhering to logic and the rules but it was plain as day it was more from that he had no desire to oppose Nia. A more surprising turn was that J'onn was also backing down, his eyes softening as he looked away from Kara and gazed pensively at the floor. Had he seen something in Kara's mind, James questioned, circling to see if he could gain any help from the last person in the room.

Winn's reaction had to be the strangest one of all. Like everyone else, he too had been visibly upset by what Lena had done to Kara and, just as passionately as James had, wanted to see her arrested. But now, he met Kara's demand with a contemplative but vague curiosity where there should have been confusion and, adding more to James' shock, a mostly-hidden wistful smile. The anger he had expressed from before was gone without a trace, entirely absent.

His determination stifled but undefeated, James locked eyes with Kara. She returned his glare with defiance, showing him she would upgrade their standoff to a total fight if she had to. He almost gave out then and there, his will shaken by the suspicion she would go to such lengths, but he stood his ground with the belief her threats were empty. What felt like minutes passed by in seconds, Kara's glare becoming more fierce as the time ticked by, until James groaned and turned away.

Kara's glare lightened immediately, but only down to the point where her face still maintained a serious expression. "Thank you," she said to him and the others, her heavy heart left glad that none of them were resisting anymore. "The medics said it would be best for my recovery if I did nothing strenuous today, so I'm going to go home. Nia, can you cover for me at CatCo?"

"Sure. I'll tell everybody you caught a twenty-four hour bug while you were out in public looking for a story and you don't want anyone else to get sick," Nia answered. "Everyone believes that excuse." She paused for effect, hoping her quip would get a smile out of Kara, maybe even a giggle.

But nothing of that came. "Thank you," she said for the second time. "Can I depend on James to corroborate that?"

"Yes," James stated bluntly.

After that, Kara gave everyone in the room another look, trying to determine if anyone else was preparing a form of resistance to what she had asked. The last person she gazed upon was Alex, where her eyes turned unnaturally cold and unforgiving, sending yet another chill through the small gathering. Neither Kara or Alex said anything, alarming their friends further, and then without so much as another word, Kara turned on her heel and left the office.

Only then did Alex make a move. Watching her sister leave, she rose from her chair, planting her hands on the desk. "Brainy, cancel the search for Lena. Winn, see if we can get anything out of the Leviathan tech we obtained. They had to get those kinds of materials from somewhere."

The two tech geniuses acknowledged her orders and dashed out of the office. Alex turned to J'onn and said, "I need you to take over for a bit. I need to talk with Kara before she leaves and then I'm going to handle some things on my own before I get back."

J'onn nodded. "Don't worry. I'll be sure that any rogue elements do not get out of hand," he promised, eyeing James sharply, hinting something at her and causing James to flinch.

Her eyes narrowing at him, Alex realised he was still planning on pursuing Lena and she threatened, "You stay put here, James. Handle all the CatCo matters over the phone. And don't make me give an order to have you held, because I swear I will if you try anything."

"Just what is going on?" James burst out in frustration. "Why aren't we going after Lena? She's broken every promise, every claim she wanted to be different than the rest of her family! She can't be trusted anymore! Maybe she should never have been! SHE'S! A! LUTHOR!"

"The reason why is because you don't know the full story," Alex snapped. "Lena's been hurt too. By us! So stand down, James, because I haven't got time or restraint to have you turning all Javert today!"

Calming down a notch, she glanced at Nia. "Head to CatCo. Go cover for Kara," she said breathlessly.

"Of course," Nia answered. "Do you want me to tell Kara you want to talk to her?"

"She probably already heard me," Alex replied. "Go."

Nia nodded, running out of the office. Confused rage still etched on his face, James stalked out after her. Alex sighed, pushing out her stress in a single aggravated breath, and shifted away from the desk to let J'onn take the reins. Kelly met her at the door.

"Kel?" she asked.

"I'll walk you out," her girlfriend said, warmly clasping her hand over Alex's elbow.

Alex managed a smile.

Together, side by side, the two left J'onn in the office. Traversing their way through the corridors of the DEO, ignoring any agents that passed them by, they headed for the exit. Inwardly, Alex was growing nervous, tense and panicky the closer they got, thinking both of what she was going to do if for some reason Kara was not waiting for her or of how their conversation would go if she was. Kelly sensed and saw her turmoil, doing what she could to give Alex comfort and support along the way. As they approached the doors leading outside, they saw a form of conclusion to their short journey. On the other side just some steps away, her back to them, Kara was standing resolutely on the pavement. Alex stalled, knowing now which of her two dilemmas she would be enduring in a matter of moments.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kelly asked, slightly worried again.

Alex swallowed bravely, summoning up her courage. "It's something I have to do. You better head on to work."

"No way," Kelly shook her head. "I'm staying for you."

"Okay. Just keep back until it's over, alright? This is between me and her," Alex said.

"Sure," Kelly nodded, reluctantly letting go as they took the remaining steps and passed through the doors to meet Kara.

**: * :**

Hearing that Alex wanted to talk with her before she left showed Kara that her older sister's wishes still had some effect on her as she slowed to a stop, poised just outside the DEO's front doors to wait for Alex to end the meeting and come and appear. She barely made a reaction as Kelly promised to walk Alex out, knowing her sister's girlfriend was likely to take offence to anything she said or did, maybe even directly intervene. Kara fought off an urge to frown; whatever Kelly had towards Alex did not give her an allowance to take part in this. After all, it had started long before a romantic relationship between the two was considered thinkable.

But Kara continued to wait for the both of them and, within minutes, her ears picked up their dual heartbeats as they neared the doors themselves. Then one of the hearts interrupted its brisk rhythm and thudded with a strong, solitary pulse, telling her the person whom it belonged to had halted suddenly. Alex, she realised. But the pulse lasted momentarily, as the pair of rhythms resumed their previously-held rate. The doors to the DEO opened with a creaky groan, and the heartbeats were joined by a series of footfalls rapping across the pavement. The two diverged from there going on individual paths. The slower, more assured one held back, sidling against the wall of the building; the second, rapidly nervous beat edged closer to her.

Kara turned around, facing her sister. "You wanted to talk?" she said abruptly, startling Alex.

Her heart clouding with emotional pain at seeing her little sister snap at her with contempt, Alex replied, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Kara asked, putting on a display of indifference when, truthfully, she was maintaining a private restraint on her fury.

"That I should have let you tell Lena. A long time ago," Alex confessed. "Maybe even right from the start."

"Maybe," Kara nodded blandly in mild, unfelt agreement. "But there doesn't seem to be any point in talking about what-ifs right now, Al. I listened to you, the big bad sister, like a good little sibling. I took your words as reasonable, understandable, because that was what they were. But they also, as we both know inside, came from a place of selfishness, which you named as being protective. And it wasn't only just with Lena, but with everything I ever wanted to do or who I wanted to hang out with that you found yourself uncomfortable about."

"I - - - I know. I just wanted to," Alex attempted to find the right words to defend herself with. Ultimately, she could not come up with anything.

Kara did. "You were just being you, the overprotective elder sister who always knew best. And that, along with my loyal, blind obedience, has cost me everything. I never should have listened to you at all."

The words, to Alex, were like a ceaseless barrage of physical blows that when ended their numerous impacts had left her heart in shattered fragments. All at once, the normally stoic agent lost control of her emotions, tears leaking like a tap left running down her face.

"Kar, please," she begged, hoping to repair the widening rift.

For the first time in their lives, Kara ignored her, turning away. "I'll see you when I see you. Don't bother calling or visiting me at home until I say you can."

Alex shook her head wildly. "We can fix this!" she cried.

"Us? Yes. We're sisters, Al, and we always will be," Kara responded, never turning, not wanting to reveal the pain in her eyes. "But that's not why my heart is broken, and I can't see how that is going to be fixed."

Alex moved, holding out her hands, intending to deny what Kara said but before she was able to, Kara launched into the air and shot upwards on a steep angle high into the skyline, slashing wholly out of sight as she left the verbal explosion of a sonic boom behind her. Disparagingly, Alex let her arms fall slowly against her sides. Once the noise of the sonic boom faded away and Kara showed no signs of returning with an apologetic expression on her face, Kelly pulled away from the wall. Torn between empathy towards how hurt her girlfriend was appearing and confused as to why Kara was directing all her pain in such a hateful way, she made straight for Alex and gathered her into her arms. Alex returned the embrace, shivering until her eyes ran dry and her quaking breath calmed. Brushing off one last audible sob and wiping the watery stains from her cheeks, she leaned back slightly, indicating to Kelly she was starting to feel okay. Kelly complied, gradually releasing her.

"So what now? You said to J'onn you had some business to take care of," she asked Alex.

"Yeah," Alex sniffed. "But now it's more important than I originally gave it credit for."

"Why? What is it?" Kelly enquired, her interest sparking.

Regaining her control, Alex assumed a semblance of her bold and confident personality, holding herself straight and tall as if she were about to undertake an act of extreme daring. In her eyes, she was.

"I'm going to find Lena."

"But you promised Kara you wouldn't arrest her," Kelly stated, puzzled by the quick turn in their conversation.

"I'm keeping that promise. I just need to talk to her," Alex affirmed. "Because I believe that if I don't, then she and Kara will permanently lose the one special thing they have in their lives. Each other."

"But why does it have to be you? Why can't Kara do it?"

Alex sighed, dipping her head for a moment's thought before looking Kelly seriously in the eye. "Two reasons. The first is that Kara's right. My persistence in telling her not to confess to Lena did come from a selfish desire. Second, I might be the only person in the world who knows Kara's real reason for wanting to tell Lena, and who understands that the only thing besides me holding her back was that she couldn't confess one secret without revealing another."

"Another secret?" Kelly exclaimed. "What?"

"For now, that's my business, Kelly," Alex said, smiling fondly at her girlfriend's piqued inquisitiveness. "All I'll say is I know my sister better than almost everyone, perhaps even more than she does. To the point I'm sure that, as mad as she is at me, she's also upset with herself. You heard what she said, 'along with her loyal, blind obedience'."

"I remember," Kelly nodded fervently.

"She's not in the right condition to say anything to Lena right now. And you didn't see how Lena was yesterday; she was troubled, upset, confused. Maybe even guilty. Seeing Kara now may not be the best thing either."

"And you could be?"

Alex nodded. "I'm level-headed enough at the moment. I'm not angry at Lena anymore; don't ask me why until this whole thing is over."

"Okay," Kelly responded. "But are you sure you don't want to involve Kara at all?"

"Yes. Like I said, I know my sister. I'd gamble my job here that she's following orders to stay at home not to recover her health, but to console everything she's currently feeling."

As Alex uttered those words, elsewhere in National City, Supergirl came to land on the balcony adjoining the loft she called home. Accepting the sight of it as a mere familiarity rather than the welcoming sensation she was used to feeling after a long day or more, she walked inside. Away from everyone, the immense weight of her emotions began to show its toll. As memories of the previous day flashed through her mind, the anger she was expressing burned itself out, leaving a hollow gap in her heart and marking her features with a blank, unmoving state of depression.

In this mood, she went to the bedroom to change into casual clothing, choosing to draw the time out longer by doing every bit of it as a normal Earth human would, without the use of superspeed. Twelve minutes later, she came back out into the living area as Kara Danvers, dressed in a stone grey T-shirt, plain white sweater and long, dark grey slacks. Checking habitually that her glasses were in place, she shuffled noiselessly over to the couch and sat down.

There she stayed, listening in as the general population of National City awoke, gearing up for the new day. Though she knew they were obliviously unaware of what had happened to her, the fact that others were commencing their everyday cycle in innocence was causing her more pain. After a while, Kara tried to ignore it all, looking for something to do to take up her time. Her first thought was turned to the kitchen, but she found no interest in embarking on another one of her lousy attempts to cook nor did she feel hungry. Next, she thought about watching some television or a movie, dismissing the idea after concluding that anything she selected might end up reminding her of the world she wanted to block out.

Her quiet frenzy of searching was brought to a sudden finish when her eyes fell on the coffee table, pointing towards a photograph held in a delicate picture frame. Without even thinking, she picked it up in both hands and drew it closer to her. Gently, she traced the tips of her fingers along the smoothness of the glass, remembering with the summoning of tears that the photo was one of a pair; the other, she guessed, was still in its place on a desk belonging to a certain woman back at L Corp. Every time before that Kara had gazed at the picture with a smile and a bright glimmer in her eyes, but here in the present, all it did was remind her of something she no longer had, a happier time she wanted back.

Letting the tears cascade down her face, her vision clearing now that no water was blurring it, Kara looked at the picture, soaking in every detail. She stared longingly at herself and Lena, their arms slung atop one another's shoulders, grinning happily as the two of them mugged for the camera, Lena especially. By merely thinking the woman's name, Kara altered the position of her fingers, keeping her tender strokes to circling over the contours of Lena's face. With a sniffle, she memorised the beaming lips, wishing inwardly that one day she would see that smile again. In the long run though, none of her actions or any wish she made served to allay her sadness or her pain, and the struggle to hold them back became unbearable. Taking the frame in both hands again, Kara clutched the photo close to her chest and broke down, her mouth jarring open as the sobbing she had been forcing to stay down rose up from inside her.

**: * :**

Expecting the DEO to come after her once they had gotten Supergirl to safety, Lena thought about where to hide. The first thing, she realised, was to get out of National City but that posed a set of problems. She was Lena Luthor; everyone in a hundred-mile radius knew what she looked like. That left out using public transport like a bus or a taxi. So she thought about hiring an Uber, only to dismiss that as the DEO would track her via the website.

The thought of flying out on a plane came next. Domestic flights were out of the question as the DEO likely had pull in any state of the country, and even if they didn't, Alex was certain to use a connection in another government agency that did. So international flights were the option, except until she remembered they weren't; those took time to arrange, and in that time the DEO would have caught up to her. Then she thought about escaping on her private jet, but concluded a request for clearance to take off would lead her hunters straight to her.

Eventually, she understood a clean escape was impossible. The best thing to do was hide and hope the DEO somehow overlooked her location, probably from leaping to the idea that she had chosen to run away. Hurriedly, she tried to think of all the hotels or motels she could recall from memory; that ceased gradually when it dawned on her she had no money on hand, meaning she would have to use a technological method to pay for a room. Another way for the DEO to get to her, she groaned mentally at that point.

As all the thoughts and ideas whirled around in her head, chaotically jumbling together, one coherent solution slunk by them and led her back to the scenario of escaping by air. At the start, the notion of falling to a choice she already denied added to the furore of her stress, but then it hit her why she thought of it again.

Her jet. It was the perfect shelter. There was absolutely no requirement that needed more than one person to attend to it. The kitchenette and bar were fully stocked in case she had to fly somewhere on short notice. And it provided adequate necessities and comforts for her to rest in.

Lena made her decision quickly and rushed to where she kept her car parked, hoping the DEO had not yet managed to have it impounded. Luckily, they hadn't. Ignoring the strange looks she was getting from the pedestrians in the street as she dashed past them, Lena brought out her keyring control minipad and thumbed on the button to unlock the doors. Greeted at once with the resounding click, she flung the driverside door open and jumped inside, securing herself to the seat with the belt and slamming the door shut. Looking around to check again that nobody was following her, she thrust the key into the ignition and twisted it in a semicircle. The motor thundered into life and, after glancing in her rearview mirror a second time, she steered the vehicle out into the roadway and sped off.

Luck appeared to be on her side again as she reached the L Corp airfield hangar without ever meeting a major source of delay. After pulling the car to a stop inside the building so as to keep it hidden, she found the boarding ladder and pushed it into place, climbed up its stairs, and opened the cabin door to get herself in. Once she was aboard, she checked on everything. The power supply was full, the food stores freshly restocked.

Assured that all she needed was there in place, Lena fell back exhausted into one of the passenger seats, releasing her pent-up emotion with a huge exhale of breath. In its absence came, not relief, but dread and shame. With nothing in the present to deter it, her mind flew back to the basement at L Corp, to remembering the heartbreak on Supergirl's face. At once, her own heart throbbed, reacting as she pictured the sight clearly.

Why, she asked herself again. Why was she feeling this way? She should not be harbouring anything to do with regret or guilt by what she had done. And yet there was a part of her arguing in contention with that belief, the same part of her that yearned to run back to Supergirl the moment the hero cried out Lena's name in tears. For hours, Lena grappled with her private dilemma, the rest of her body on edge and waiting for any sign that would alert her to the knowledge that the DEO had found her. Somehow, someway, while battling with all of that, Lena drifted uneasily into sleep.

**: * :**

When a piercing, continuous noise registered in her ears and jolted her into waking, Lena leaped out of the chair, thinking the DEO had her cornered. As she calmed gradually, she then noticed the vibrating sensation close to her thigh. Recognising it was her work mobile, she quickly inserted her hand into her pocket and drew out the phone, her eyes flying to the screen to read the contact information. According to it, the person ringing was her receptionist Jess. Without hesitating, Lena answered.

"Hello."

"Ms Luthor, I'm sorry for calling, but where are you?" came Jess' voice. "You haven't come in for work yet."

"Work?" Lena asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Yes, you have a meeting with the Board after lunch to discuss company proceedings and security reported there was a break-in in the archives and storage department," Jess responded.

Lena's mind whirled. None of this was making any sense. " A break-in?"

"Yes, here's the weird thing though. Nothing was stolen. All the perpetrators did was make a mess. The police think it may have been squatters."

"The police? Noone else has investigated or asked questions?" Lena enquired further, suspiciously attempting to discover if her employee was being truthful or being used by the DEO to lure her out of hiding.

"No, just the police. Why? Do you think we should get someone else involved?"

"No, I was making sure," Lena spoke, judging that Jess was being honest with her. "I have an appointment with a government department today, that's all. I was told to keep it out of the official record for the time being."

"Close to the chest kind of thing, huh? Well, noone's shown up yet, so I recommend you get over here fast before they do, ma'am," Jess replied with understanding.

Lena glanced at the digital clock on the phone screen, noting it was a little past ten in the morning. "Yes. Thank you, Jess," she nodded, going on to end the call and wonder to herself just what the hell was going on.

**: * :**

The return to L Corp was eerie, to say the least. On the drive from the hangar, Lena kept a watchful eye on the traffic surrounding her, looking out for any indication of an ambush. But none came, not at any of the intersections she had to pass through, not when she pulled the car to a stop, and not when she jogged up the steps and into the building's foyer. There, it occurred to Lena she had rejoined her world, taking in the creepily untouched normalcy as the two employees behind the general admissions desk accepted enquiries over the phone and from people sitting in the waiting area, and as the eight security guards stood at their posts, surveying the small crowd and any individual person for anything that might be suspicious. Lena did a double take, troubled by the supposition that any of the guards could be a DEO agent in disguise waiting to jump her.

Unnerved, she headed for the elevator and pushed the button for it come down to her location. The indicator built in above the doorframe showed her the car had been resting on the ninth floor, changing to the eighth as it commenced travel, and then to the seventh. Lena felt her guilt impulse at each stop, finding it more difficult to breathe the closer it got to her. When it finally reached the ground floor and the doors slid open, she understood why. Her gut plunging deeply, she recalled the elevator ride to the basement while she and the Leviathan mercenaries were holding Supergirl captive. The worst the horrific feeling brought upon her was how easily she could see the Lena of then in her mind's eye, almost as if she were really facing her past self at that moment. It was like staring at a total opposite; her scared and guilty, the old her resolute and unflinching. How had she changed so much in less than twenty-four hours?

A momentary image of Supergirl tied to the chair in the basement below provided her with an answer, one she was unsure she was ready to accept. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she numbly entered the car and applied her forefinger to the level that housed her office. Mysteriously, perhaps mercifully as well, the trip upwards seemed to take a much shorter time than the wait downstairs had. Before Lena knew it, she was at her destination. Eager to get out of the confines of the lift, she moved out, walking hesitantly along the corridor.

At the secretarial desk, Jess looked up to see her employer arriving and stood up fast, her face marred with concern. "Ms Luthor," she said, startling Lena.

"Oh, Jess," Lena said, sighing after the brief moment of flinching and she stepped over to the desk.

"Are you alright?" Jess asked. "You don't seem well."

"Just a large amount of emotional baggage. Nothing wrong with me physically," Lena passed off the question, knowing from the way her receptionist was looking at her she must be appearing very haggard. She certainly felt she was. "Anything else on the agenda today besides what you've told me over the phone?"

"Your meeting with the Board is still scheduled for one o'clock," Jess turned her attention to her computer, bringing up the itinerary onscreen and consulting it. "You have a phone interview at eleven forty-five with Ultimate Computer Corporation; they want to know how that software project they outsourced to us has been progressing. At two fifteen, you have a video conference with Themyscira Industries; looks like Ms Prince wants to renew the security tech deal. And at four, a representative from L.O.S. Incorporated will be arriving for a meeting in the boardroom, probably to make another attempt to discuss resuming L Corp's former association with them."

Lena glanced away and collated everything together. The Board, she was always prepared for no matter what mood she was in. Ultimate Computer Corporation she was ready to handle; she had been meaning to give them an update for five days already but her dealings with Leviathan had kept her busy. On the other hand, Themyscira Industries retriggered her unsteady nerves. Doing business with Diana Prince on any professional endeavour seemed daunting on the best of days, even more so when you were in the presence of the insanely beautiful and intimidating woman's physical presence. And L.O.S., Lena groaned in annoyance. She thought she had finally put that tiresome company behind her for good.

"How many times do I have to say no to them?"

Jess nodded in agreement with her, her lip curling as she thought about the last time the L.O.S. had visited. "It's the al Ghul family. They're notoriously persistent. Even when old man Ras gives up, Talia's there to pick up the gauntlet."

"Well, I'm afraid they're going to have to go home in disappointment again," Lena frowned. "L Corp is not in the weapons business anymore."

Without waiting for any kind of quip from Jess agreeing with her, she stalked off, making the rest of the way to her office doors. Then, as she was about to enter, Jess finally spoke up.

"How did it go with Kara yesterday?"

Lena froze, turning around slowly, her face devoid of emotion as she glanced warily at her receptionist. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked blankly.

"You mentioned that you and Miss Danvers would be having lunch yesterday," Jess answered, obliviously unaware of the true feelings her words were provoking within Lena. "Forgive me for being so bold, but for the past month I noticed things were distant between you two. I don't know what happened to start it, but after you said that I assumed things were looking up for you and her."

So that was it, Lena surmised miserably. Jess had believed the lunchdate was her wanting to fix her friendship with Kara. "I'm afraid," she said aloud. "Kara and I had another falling out."

Genuine sorrow crossed over Jess' face. "I'm - - I'm sorry to hear that," she apologised.

"It's alright, Jess," Lena lied, attempting a brief smile. "Let's just get the workday through and see what comes next."

**: * :**

What came next happened the very minute Lena stepped into her office, closing the doors behind her. Her eyes went to the very spot where Supergirl had staggered away from her after receiving the injection of Kryptonite serum and fallen helplessly to the floor. Overwhelmed again by the intensity of her memories coupled with her tumultuous emotions, she leaned back against the doors, shutting her eyes in a vain attempt to block them out. It gave her no sense of relief. Instead her ears played tricks on her, causing her to almost believe she was hearing every sound she remembered for the first time.

Her coldly delivered lie to Supergirl as she took the syringe into her hand. Supergirl's gasp of horror after Lena attacked her. The plunger pushing the serum into Supergirl's bloodstream. Supergirl tumbling limply to the floor. The Leviathan mercenary reporting the target had been procured.

Lena had no idea when she had started crying, knowing only with a deep stab of guilt that, more than anything, none of what she had anticipated to occur after the trap had come to pass. She had expected the DEO, or at least Alex and James, to come after her in full force. For Supergirl to confront her, her feelings boiling with the travesty of betrayal and rage. For her actions to be revealed to the public once she was arrested, for the world to see just how hurt she had been by those she loved and for her to tell them the full story, thinking she'd be able to convince them she was as much a victim in this as Supergirl was.

But everything had led in the opposite direction. Events were transpiring as if yesterday had not happened at all. Everyone was acting normally but her. Well, her, the DEO and Supergirl at any rate.

More important though was that she had had no word at all from Leviathan since her escape. Did they not know how well the mission went? Shouldn't the team have reported to their superiors? Or did the DEO manage to take every mercenary into custody and Leviathan was in hiding as a precaution, not knowing what had taken place?

Figuring out that none of her numerous thoughts would get her a firm resolution, Lena put them aside and checked her phone, reading that the time was eleven-thirty. Fifteen minutes until that call with UCC, she reminded herself.

**: * :**

By eleven forty-five, Lena's office had undergone an alarmingly swift and contrasting transition. What had just minutes ago been the chic, open and inviting room with warm sunlight coming through the windows was remade into a dimly lit, shadowed and hollow chamber. Feeling herself growing uncomfortable after she had sat down at her desk and started to work, Lena realised she was often glancing up over her shoulder to take a quick view of the cityscape via the balcony. At first she assumed the reason for her unease was that it was more evidence that nearly every aspect of her life was appearing the same, but then she began to wonder if she was going to catch sight of Supergirl flying around.

Finally she understood. The idea that Supergirl may be out there, carrying on in saving the day as if Lena had not betrayed her, was too much for her soul to bear. Lena tried to dismiss it, knowing that while Supergirl could absolutely make a fast physical recovery, her emotions were another matter, given the state she was in throughout the entirety of yesterday's incident. But the feeling the idea brought on had too great a devastating effect on her, so she went over to the storage closet, eventually coming back out with a bundle of black curtains in her arms.

When the phone rang as scheduled and Lena was back in her office chair to answer it, beginning the conversation, the black curtains were suspended from the tops of the window frames, fixed to the wall with double-sided adhesive as the fabric draped down to the surface of the floor, blocking out almost every ray of sunlight with the exception of the rare few strong enough to visibly penetrate them.

Ten minutes into the exchange of questions and answers, Jess quietly entered the office to deliver a sheaf of paperwork for Lena to look over and sign. Her attention initially on watching the floor as she moved, keeping the forms perfectly balanced in her hands, it took her a few moments to recognise there was something visually different with her surroundings. She raised her head questioningly, presuming it was just a trick of the light and gaped when she saw that it wasn't. The concern she had when Lena arrived reignited as her eyes sped from Lena to the black curtains, to a rapid surveyal of the darkened room, to Lena again, and to the paperwork in her hands as she came to grips with what she was seeing. Forming a neutral expression on her face, she completed the walk to the desk and put the stack flat on the surface. Lena gave it a momentary glimpse and nodded at Jess in acknowledgement. Turning away, Jess headed back out of the office. She made for her workstation, contemplating seriously on what to do.

The first thing, she knew, would have been to contact Kara Danvers, but given that relations between her and Lena looked nowhere near reparation, that could result in the opposite effect. For all she was aware, the falling out with Kara might actually be the reason why Lena was acting so strangely. No, there had to be something else, another option. But what?

Little did she know that an answer had appeared downstairs in the foyer, pacing towards the elevator.

**: * :**

"That seems to be all the progress we've made so far. With any luck, we'll have your project back to you for the beta tests in six weeks time. I hope that's good enough," Lena reassured her caller. His response made her smile a bit. "Good. I'll contact you a week before then in case we need to make any changes to the timeline. Thank you. Goodbye."

She hung the phone, scribbled the reminder to call UCC with an update in five weeks down on paper, and sighed wearily. Just one phone interview and she was already tired, she thought exhaustively. Well, at least it was one thing on the agenda out of her way.

As she turned to the left an inch, she found she had spoken too soon, eyeing the load of paperwork Jess had placed in front of her. Rolling her eyes, she checked the nearby clock. Ten past twelve. Ultimate Computer Corporation had taken up twenty-five minutes of her time. In about another fifty, she was due to go out and meet her Board of Directors downstairs. Heaving out a second sigh, choosing to keep on working as the interview really did take her mind off her problems, she pulled the topmost sheet from the pile over to her, analysing the details with scrutiny and signing her name when she deemed the requirements and the explanations of why they were necessary sufficient.

She put the completed form aside to her right and was about ready to collect the next one when the intercom buzzed. Weirdly, Lena looked down at the machine, thinking Jess must have pressed the button by mistake. She was proven wrong when the buzzer sounded out again and the orange light indicating so had blinked. Lena pressed the responding key.

"Yes, Jess?" she asked, moving the sheet she had been in the process of getting closer to her.

"Excuse me, Ms Luthor," Jess apologised, "but Miss Danvers is here to see you."

Miss Danvers, Lena thought in confusion. Then she leaped to the natural first conclusion. _Kara!_

The sudden shock reintroduced Lena to her torments, forcing her to relive the anger, the confusion, the sadness and guilt all in unison. This time though, unlike all the previous dilemmas she endured in the past twenty-four hours, the anger and confusion had grown enormously weak while the guilt and sadness had strengthened, evolving into a more defined and prominent ruling power. But even with that surprising revelation, she was not feeling up to facing the woman she once called her friend. Not yet. She was not ready for that confrontation, so it was best not to have it. She had to refuse.

"I'm not really in the mood to speak to Kara today, Jess."

A few moments passed by silently, which Lena took as a response and she raised her finger to push the button that would end the conversation, hoping that Kara would understand and leave. Then Jess spoke again.

"I'm sorry, Lena. I should have been more clear," her receptionist replied. "Agent Danvers is here."

Lena startled, her hand freezing as it jerked to a stop. In her mind she switched tactics, realising she was on the verge of resuming the wrong confrontation. A new emotion came into play; fear, the fear of being caught, trapped. The DEO had found her. The arrest had come.

* * *

**In Part Three, Alex and Lena meet again after their dramatic and tumultuous confrontation. Where will this one lead, what truths will be uncovered? Find out soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Short but sweet intro. Here's Part III.**

* * *

Chapter 3 - Revelations

However she would not accept defeat in a panic. Working hard on reasserting her outward demeanour, Lena cooled her emotions gradually until she was sure she could fake the levelheaded, controlled and impassive stature that she normally exhibited when she needed to handle wholly professional matters and deals. She spoke into the intercom, hoping that her prepared voice was grounded enough to match.

"Is her business personal or professional?" she inquired.

"She says it's personal," Jess answered. "She doesn't have a warrant but she says she's willing to wait all day to see you."

Lena did not respond straightaway, as the information she had received was confusing her. Suspicion crept onto her face as she leaned into the back of her chair. Alex mysteriously claimed to have no warrant with her, which made no sense whatsoever. She, Lena, knew that she had been seen cooperating with the Leviathan mercenaries, not to mention Supergirl and Alex's testimonials to add to those accounts. With all that, the DEO had everything they would need, not only to take her into custody but also lock her up for good. Moreover, why was Alex declaring her unexpected arrival as personal business rather than professional? She was the Director of the DEO. That gave her more than enough influence and authority to issue an arrest order.

Well, Lena decided to herself, she was not going to get any answers by leaving Alex out there.

"Let her in," she permitted verbally, and waited for her visitor to show.

Alex walked into view, her gaze unexpressive but piercing. Lena held her in a similar regard, stone-cold glare on the outside but gripped with an inner fear, hardly daring to move. Alex ignored her, milking in the office with a detailed eye, taking special notice of the black curtains hanging over the windows.

"A bit of redecorating?" she asked Lena dryly.

Lena's eyes narrowed at her, displaying their suspicion at the blatant opener. "You could say that. I'm not really in the mood for sunshine today," she retorted lowly.

Alex countered, turning around to face her. "Is that really it, or are you just trying to avoid seeing Kara out there today?"

Lena flinched, knowing it before she had even felt it. As usual, Alex Danvers was sharper than the people she regularly had to contend with. With a single sentence, the agent had already cut right through her. The guilt she attempted to keep hidden ran free, emanating from her clearly. Lena squirmed visibly, glowering at Alex.

Alex maintained her stoicism, stating pointedly. "You didn't have to bother with that. After she was checked out of the infirmary with a clean bill of health, she went home. She hasn't made an appearance since. As Kara or Supergirl."

Recoiling as though Alex had punched her in the gut, Lena's squirms transformed into a violent tremble, one she fought to contain. As she struggled with it, the released guilt spread into her heart like venom. She had been right after all. Supergirl was still in the midst of recovering emotionally; she simply had been rendered paranoid by the way everyone else was acting to totally accept it. She should have known better.

Alex approached the desk. Lena looked up, unprepared for another war of words. Instinctively, she tried to summon up something in the heat of the moment but it perished quickly. Not only had Alex changed the battle by abruptly coming closer, but she had also switched temperaments unseen, going from a neutral expression to open anger.

"So if your goal was to hurt her, congratulations, you've succeeded," Alex growled.

Lena bit her lip as the guilt increased its hold on her greatly, threatening to overwhelm and drown her in the depths of her shame. "I just wanted her to know how hurt I was that she felt she had to hide the truth from me. She knew how much I've grown to hate that from people I love or thought I could count on, she said, fighting back tears. "I mean, I know it's her secret to tell, but it still hurts she couldn't. Didn't she trust me enough?"

Focused on dealing with the output of her emotions, she was unaware of the blow she had inflicted. Alex stepped back, her anger defeated by the honesty in the other woman's confession. Internally, she was reeling from how much Lena had said verbally and non-verbally. Troubled and hesitant, she replied.

"She does trust you. She trusts you many times over. You have no idea how much you mean to her, Lena."

"Not that much, it would seem," Lena muttered darkly, glancing away to a vacant spot in the room.

"You're wrong," Alex argued, regaining her attention. "She trusts you more than you know or understand. She trusted you before yesterday, and she still trusts you now."

"What do you mean she still trusts me?" Lena asked, puzzled.

Alex inhaled slowly, gradually preparing herself to give an answer and steeling her resolve for the direction she suspected the conversation was most likely to take from there. Eventually she said, "The minute she was free of her restraints, Kara went stumbling after you. She overheard our...exchange of words."

In a flash of horrified recognition, Lena recalled the confrontation she and Alex had had by the escape door in the basement after the battle between the DEO and Leviathan had broken out. Guilt and regret surged within her again as she looked back a little further, remembering how Supergirl had cried out her name as she fled. In full contemplation, she pictured what Kara must have done next. When she did not answer the cry, Supergirl recklessly neglected her own safety and followed her and given the manner in which Alex told her about Kara overhearing the verbal tirade between them, she now knew everything. In the argument she had with Kara a month ago, Lena had intentionally left out how she had discovered about her identity as Supergirl, making it appear as if someone had told her anonymously rather than having it revealed by a callous and dying Lex. Back then, she had privately defended her decision to omit that fact as it would have resulted in Supergirl being wary of her and giving her the impression that she would listen to her brother instead of allowing the heroine a chance to explain.

But now, none of that mattered. Kara knew.

Lena squirmed again as she remembered the heartbreak splitting across Kara's face, both in the argument and yesterday's betrayal. "That - - - doesn't explain why she still trusts me," she finally said to Alex.

"I don't think what you've done actually matters to her," Alex sighed in admittance.

"What?" Lena cried incredulously, jumping out of her chair and throwing her hands down on the desk. "But I tricked her! Injected her with Kryptonite! I - - - I." She faltered in the middle of her rant of self-loathing, lowering her head as the grief involved in her outburst caught up to her. "I let her get tortured."

Gazing at her sympathetically, Alex allowed her the time to recover. When she ascertained that it happened, she spoke again calmly. "Again, I don't think any of that matters. Not in the long run anyway. She's hurt and upset, sure, but she's been repeatedly insistent to us about the one thing."

"Which is?" Lena asked, glancing upward, honestly curious.

"She pled for us not to arrest you. The reason you're not walking out of here in handcuffs right now is because of her."

Dumbfounded, Lena sat back down. That was why the DEO had never found her, because they were never really searching in the first place. All because Supergirl had demanded that they spare her. "I don't," she murmured, halting when she realised she was speaking too quietly and raised her voice, starting again. "I don't understand."

Inhaling slowly, Alex lowered herself to sit in one of the two chairs opposite Lena, softly planting her forearms and hands on the desk. Swiftly, she changed her expression once more, combining her sympathy with a modicum of patience. "No, you don't, but you have good reason for that. You've been betrayed by the people you've known, the people you've loved, all your life and in spite of your forgiveness of them or providing them with a second chance or some small kindness, they threw it away and hurt you again," she said, recounting Lena's pains of the past before she moved back to the subject of Kara. "It might be some time before she actually says it, but I'm willing to bet Kara already forgives you?"

"But why? I allowed terrible things to happen to her," Lena stammered incomprehensively. "I _did_ terrible things to her. Why would she forgive me for that?"

For the first time since she had arrived at L Corp, Alex hesitated to answer the question. As her eyes stared at Lena soulfully, her mind and emotions were hard at work, processing on how to take the next step. How to word her response carefully. One thing though was already set in place; it was time to confess Kara's other secret, the one she had hinted at to Kelly earlier but refused to reveal the full details. The secret she had been sure Kara could find difficult to put into words if she ever chose to unveil it to Lena. Ultimately, Alex thought it best to be blunt and open.

"The reason, Lena, is that Kara has two secrets; one that she's Supergirl, the other being something I believe she doesn't really know she's been keeping but is far too plain for me to see. I think she feels, or felt I guess now, that she was unable to tell you one secret without wanting to reveal the other one at the same time."

"Why might she forgive you already? Why is she asking for you not to be arrested?"

"It's because when someone has found the right person for them, there is nothing they won't do for the one they're in love with."

Lena's eyes bulged in disbelief, her mouth falling open in shock. "Love? Kara _loves_ me?"

"Like I said, I'm not sure she acknowledges it fully or she doesn't think she can, but the way she acts where you're concerned says otherwise," Alex explained further. "Relationships with guys never last long with her. And despite the ups and downs between the two of you, ever since Kara met you, well, it's the things she does when you're around. The sight of you, the sound of your voice, the mention of your name; anything about you makes her light up as if you're the sun that can make any dark day of hers shine."

Here eyes trembling as she absorbed every word, Lena found her memory plagued with every time she and Kara had met or spoke over the phone. She was already holding back tears as she recognised and understood what Alex was pointing out to her. At every meetup, Kara would positively beam and glow upon seeing her, smiling with her wide, open sincere grin, With every phone call, the moment Lena answered, the reply was always Kara raising her voice a level higher and exclaiming her name with brightening joy. But the thing that aggrieved Lena most was how she responded; on every occasion, without fail, she herself would glow and smile back in fond recognition of the angelic woman next to her, across from her, or on the other end of the line. And then there was the rush of affection she constantly felt whenever there were moments that she laid eyes on Kara first or she had initiated a phone call waiting for the melody that was Kara's voice until she finally heard it.

"Jess...Jess has often told me I act the same way around her," Lena admitted. "That seeing or hearing Kara makes my bad days brighter."

"I know. I've seen it too," Alex nodded. In an instant, surprising Lena again with a rapid alteration of her features, her expression turned regretful and apologetic. "That's why I want you to stop punishing Kara and yourself, and start punishing me instead."

"Why would I want to punish you?" Lena asked, confused.

"Don't you remember what I said yesterday, before you ran off?" Alex implored.

After a few seconds of thinking, Lena did recall the tail end of their confrontation. "Yes, you told me you often kept Kara from telling me," she mused, thinking about the rage that had engulfed her when Alex had made that claim. "But I was operating on instinct, angry and desperate and putting every thought into getting away. Afterwards, I thought it was just something you were making up to keep me by the door until more agents came along to offer you backup."

Alex shook her head morosely. "It wasn't made up, it's the truth. Kara always wanted to tell you. She was honestly going to tell you the day we took down Lex together. She was so adamant about it that time, but I managed to talk her out of it. Just like I've always done."

A glimmer of the rage returned in Lena as her eyes surveyed the crestfallen agent. Gradually, she determined there was no lie in the worded confession or on Alex's face, and confirmed that it was the truth. Slowly she rose from her seat, walking around the length of the desk, and moved towards Alex until there was barely half a foot between them. Alex watched her as she came closer, not even flinching as she heard the audible seethe rippling from Lena's throat as she spoke, her voice teetering between a growl and a sob.

"Why would you do something like that? Override your sister on something she clearly wanted to do more than once? And do you have something against me knowing? I mean, before what happened yesterday, didn't I do enough to earn your trust?"

"In the early days of your friendship with Kara, no," Alex replied honestly. "There was a part of me that was scared, terrified, that you were exactly like your mother and brother, but hiding it better."

Silence fell between her and Lena, the both of them bitterly realising just how truthful that belief had come to be over the past month. Wanting to shove it and the ill feeling she was getting from it aside, Lena pressed the conversation further once it occurred to her Alex was referring to the past and not the present day.

"And now?"

"Now. Lately. Of course you had. You had my trust, but it hasn't been about trust for a while now," Alex answered listlessly.

"Then what has it been about?"

Alex gritted her teeth, driven unknowingly by an inner refusal to speak. All throughout the morning, she presumed she was ready to divulge the truth about why she had persisted in convincing Kara not to tell Lena she was Supergirl. The once-legitimate excuse that Lena could be a true Luthor like the rest of her family had stopped holding water a long time ago, but the horrid feeling Alex believed the reason to be the cause of never subsided. Soon enough, she finally discovered why she did not want Kara to go through with her desire, but rather than do the right thing, she kept giving Kara reason after reason; some Kara took to heart, others were a difficult sell for Alex to enforce.

And now, even though she had prepared herself to tell all and built her way towards it in the conversation, some of the ingrained emotion devoted to keeping things as they were still remained, attempting to manipulate her into thinking confessing the whole thing to Lena was not what she wanted. No, she argued with it, it was not the time to be selfish. Being selfish was a major part of what brought her, Kara and Lena to where they were. It was time for that, the lies, the excuses and the guilt-tripping to end.

"I've - - - I've always been the person, the one person, Kara confided in about the important decisions and dilemmas in her life, from when we were kids to today. Not Dad, not Mom, just me. Even when she was with James and Mike, we still kept that part of our relationship because she never really talked to them in regards to those things," Alex said finally.

As she spoke, the heavy weight in her chest that had been burdening her constantly all day had gotten considerably lighter. With a welcoming, awed sense of relief, she carried on, understanding that putting everything out into the open was surprisingly making her feel better.

"But I know she talks to you, not about her identity but other things. And I know you confide in her on everything in your life. I believed that if she ever told you the truth about her, all of it, then that was it. There'd be nothing holding her back from wanting to share everything with you and nothing with me."

Alex trailed off, choosing to end the confession there and stared back up at Lena. The initial reaction of the raven-haired woman was to return the stare with bewildered perplexity in her eyes. Backing away, she blinked as she attempted to convalesce her mind into its normal frame. Although she managed to get it set right, the confusion she was left in reigned.

"You were afraid she'd no longer need you?" she exclaimed.

Alex nodded briefly, a sliver of the solemnity that had gripped her beforehand worming its way in to depress her. "Yes."

"Alex, Kara is not the kind of person who would needlessly cut someone out of her life," Lena impressed on her.

"I know," Alex choked. "But I never wanted to risk losing something that precious. She's my little sister. I've always been the one responsible for her. Always looking out for her safety and wellbeing. Caring for her. Advising her."

"I understand," Lena said, realising she did. "You didn't want to let her go."

Alex nodded again, this time more emptily. "I guess I still don't. Right now, there's some part of me wanting to hold onto her and it's strong enough that I don't think I have the courage to pull it off," she replied.

Slowly, she took a breath and steadied herself. As if she were summoning a reserve of energy to oppose her own weariness, she looked at Lena bravely as she pulled herself out of the chair. Lena took another step back, allowing her the space in which to stand.

"You don't know how hard it was for me to come here and tell you all of this. I'm not entirely sure I would have done it had you found out about Kara by yourself or whether she told you," she resumed, her eyes sparkling with tears. "Holding her back has cost me too. Not only do I have to watch my sister be in pain, she hates me so much she won't let me in anymore. Because of that, I know what I'd rather lose."

Lena stiffened. Kara hated Alex? Kara never had a hateful bone in her body.

"But even with all that," Alex interrupted her contemplation. "I can't let go of Kara on my own and still have her in my life in another way without help. Your help, Lena."

Immediately, Lena remembered what Alex had told her to do just moments ago. She had demanded she punish her. Lena swallowed in apprehension, trembling with uncertainty as she waited for what she was going to be asked to do.

"I know you need time to figure out how you feel about her, so I'll say it this way. If you do love my sister, then punish me, Lena. As I said, I know what I'd rather live with now. So do it. Take Kara away from me."

**: * :**

After Alex departed, Lena spent the rest of her workday being in two minds; one focusing on the tasks she was handling, the other contemplating laboriously over what it was she felt towards Kara. Descending further into the paperwork, she was unaware of Jess entering her office at twelve-forty, carrying a tray laden with a styrofoam food container and a steaming, hot takeaway mug. Quickly, Jess recognised her arrival had gone unnoticed and she coughed lightly to get Lena's attention. Shaken and distracted, Lena glanced her way.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to the tray.

"Lunch," Jess replied succinctly.

Lena rolled her eyes. In Kara's absence, whenever she was under a heavy workload and neglecting to look after her own wellbeing, Jess had taken it upon herself to see she regularly had meals and breaks to keep her energy going. Reluctantly, Lena put her paperwork to the side, knowing her receptionist was going to be insistent and allowed her to rest the tray on the desk.

"Is this really necessary?" she asked Jess as a plastic fork and knife was set in front of her. "I have less than twenty minutes before the meeting with the Board."

"You haven't had breakfast. Don't look at me like that, I know you haven't," Jess reasoned as Lena pulled a face. "And strictly speaking, you looked like hell when you walked in. So I want to see everything on this tray gone, and by that I mean in your stomach, when I come back to collect it. I mean it, Ms Luthor. Every bite and drop."

With that said, Jess left again. Lena watched her go before she looked down at the tray with a disgruntled, somewhat petty frown. "Kara's never that forceful," she muttered to herself, opening the container to find she had been brought a ham and cheese omelette accompanied by two chipolatas and a hash brown.

Quietly, she grabbed the fork and knife and tucked into the food, cutting everything up into small pieces before starting to eat. After the first two gulps of omelette and a bite of cooked sausage, Lena pried the lid off the takeaway mug and was greeted with the sight and aroma of black coffee. As usual when it came to moments similar to what she was currently doing, Lena discovered she was hungrier than she had first believed, and she finished devouring the meal with five minutes to spare. Satisfied, she walked out of her office, noting to inform Jess she could take the tray.

The meeting with the Board turned out to be a welcoming distraction, helping Lena to take her mind off of Kara for a period of time. As anticipated, she was able to rein in their concerns and instil confidence in them that the operations at L Corp were to continue as planned, even offering to take the members on a tour to demonstrate their employees were working as efficiently and punctually as they had been before and during Lena's ambitiously-driven month. But, as Lena realised, there was a price to pay for such an excellent performance; none of the members took it up, deeming it unnecessary as the information and plans she explained in detail were understood and accepted well enough that there were no more worries expressed for the present time. The meeting was concluded by one-forty.

Lena returned to her office, her mind thrown back to thinking about Kara as she whiled away the minutes walking back there. The whirlwind of racing memories and differing emotions slammed to a stop the instant she acknowledged she was there, but it was not because something unexpected was waiting for her there. Lena gazed crossly at the black curtains, remembering she had put them up because she was frightened that Kara would act normally, as if yesterday had never affected her at all. Now knowing that that was not the case, that Kara was at home recovering from the trauma, all Lena felt was disgust with herself at letting her paranoia delude her into believing her friend would act so unnervingly, especially now with what she knew about Kara's possible second secret. The revulsion within her brought about a snap decision. One by one, she marched to every window, grasped the curtains tightly and wrenched down hard on them until they all pulled free, leaving scabs of adhesive stuck to the walls and allowing the early afternoon sunlight to spill into the room.

Once she tossed the curtains back into the closet, Lena moved to her desk, intending to use the remaining paperwork as a means of filling time until the two-fifteen video conference with Themyscira Industries. That meeting went over mostly well; as Jess had guessed, T.I. wanted to continue using the technology L Corp supplied them for their security measures and wished to renew the deal. The sole thing about the conference that had Lena on edge for the duration of it was while Themyscira's CEO was cool and formal in her behaviour as she and her team discussed with Lena on the points they found satisfactory, Lena swore Ms Prince had fleetingly been glaring at her on regular intervals. A couple of minutes after the meeting concluded, she released a nervous breath she had no idea she had been holding. Eventually, she believed she was interpreting Ms Prince's accusing expressions oversensitively due to the serious contemplation she was going through in regards to her and Kara's relationship. The woman was just being her usual intimidating self was all.

After getting Themyscira out of the way, promising to send them a purchase order, Lena counted how long it would be before her four o'clock appointment. The time read two thirty-two, meaning she had less than an hour and a half until then. Once more, she dove back into the paperwork, analysing, revising or signing as she went. Seven minutes in, Lena gradually became troubled as her thoughts wandered back to Kara and what she should do. For a great length of time afterwards, she wrestled between both things, trying with all her mental strength to prioritise one over the other.

The matter concerning Kara won out and Lena left the forms alone. Emotionally, Lena reconciled everything that Alex told her. Was it all true? Was the very reason Kara had never confessed to her she was Supergirl because she was struggling with keeping not one but two secrets and afraid to speak of both at once? In a way, Lena could understand it if that were the case. Revealing the superhero secret, if she had been the person telling it, would have looked scary as it possibly meant losing the friend she had confided in. The addition of the love secret felt worse, especially if it had been reciprocated and told before the superhero one; the feeling of having been lied to would have cut even deeper.

Okay, Lena surrendered. It could be true. But one question remained. Was it mutual? Did she have the same feelings for Kara that Alex claimed Kara did for her, and if she did, could she be able to face Kara and express them to her?

She focused on her emotions first, sensing if the anger and hate she harboured towards Kara had any remnants left. A slight wave of alleviation came over her. There was none. Somehow the conversation with Alex had eliminated every last piece of it, but it was only a small relief as that left her entirely with the guilt and sadness. From there, Lena put her thoughts to how Kara made her feel in the days before she knew the truth. Vividly, she remembered the affectionate rush of exhilaration whenever she saw Kara, and smiled as she was greeted with the mental image of Kara's face glowing immensely to seeing her in return. Lena's heart thudded nostalgically, making her realise her old feelings were resurfacing.

Going on, Lena pondered upon the obvious thing that came into question about anything more than friendship evolving between her and Kara. Not once in the time they had known each other had either of them displayed an inclination to preferring women as a serious romantic option. They had only ever been with men. But, as she mulled over all their previous relationships, she surmised that Alex was at least correct in how long they lasted. Every one of them, for her or Kara, had been brief or rushed, and never resulted in taking the time to establish and build anywhere near the level of devotion, admiration and confidence that she and Kara used to share.

But was what they had romantic, or at least could be transformed into something romantic over time? Would they even be able to get past the betrayals and start something new? Was the hatred going to rise in her again if Alex was wrong and Kara rejected her?

A recent memory arose from the depths of her mind to answer all the questions in a single stroke. Dim to begin with, the memory took on full clarity as Lena calmed enough to remember it in detail. She ignored the sudden disbelief at forgetting it so easily, commanding herself to listen. Before she left, Alex had had one last thing to convey to her after pleading with her to see Kara.

"What makes you think I could have feelings for her?" Lena had asked her.

Alex paused, as she forestalled an outburst of emotion and went on to answer simply, "Let me put it this way. In addition to everything I've just told you, there is something else for you to think about. The day you found out the truth from your brother, you knew the rest of us were keeping the secret hidden from you as well, and yet you centred all the blame on Kara."

"You could have targeted me and James in your plans, but you chose to have a go only at her. We were that close enough to have you be angry at us too. We're your friends. We knew. So why only Kara?"

Then, instantly, Lena understood why it had been so easy to forget. She had barely given herself a moment to recover from being stunned by watching Alex break down in front of her when she had impulsively retorted, and had left herself open and vulnerable. The statement from Alex had sent her reeling, miring her into confusion but now with her deliberations, Lena accepted how much sense it made. Lex did in fact tell her she was the last person in Kara's inner circle to know the truth, that everyone else had kept it hidden from her. So she asked herself the question. Why did she choose to hurt Kara and not anyone else? Why had Kara's supposed betrayal hurt her so much that it made the betrayal from the others practically nonexistent? She, Lena, had been lied to by them all, so why just Kara?

Unable to answer, Lena noticed the time and jumped when it hit her it was getting close to four. At a dash, she ran out of her office and hurried to the boardroom to meet the emissary from L.O.S., praying for the sake of resolving her conundrum that it was not Ras or Talia al Ghul she was going to face. Arriving there, she privately sighed with relief when it was not. The man waiting for her identified himself merely as a senior member of the weapons corporation. She returned his greeting, slipping into her professional demeanour.

Though he introduced himself as an employee acting on behalf of his leaders, the emissary proved to be as stubborn as the al Ghuls themselves. From the moment Lena made it clear to him L Corp was not interested in renewing the old partnership Lex and Ras established, he had resisted, verbally demonstrating that the human race was always in need of weapons and, because of that need, the industry was endlessly profitable. As she had before, Lena stressed that she was changing her company's aims to different fields, trying to better their public reputation. The emissary turned frosty, addressing with thinly-layered politeness that she was letting her feelings and past overrule her. Lena had none of that, vowing to him her amendments to how L Corp was run was not solely for prestige alone, but so L Corp could definitively find itself a new place in the world as an advocate of peace and prosperity, making it a mission to save the world. With an air of disappointment around him, the emissary cautioned her that humanity would never follow that direction as a whole and stay on their current path of slow, eroding destruction. The world is crazy and insane, he told her, and it was best to take advantage of that craziness. Nonetheless, Lena stood firm on her values and so, realising he would get nowhere with her, the emissary left in defeat.

Recalling her personal mission in regards to L Corp and the world gave birth to a change in Lena as she reminisced all the time she had passionately made that claim and stood by it. Back then, she knew or had an understanding of how hard it would be to prove to the people, but she could never say it did not dishearten her when someone refuted her goals in her face. Noone had any faith in her. Noone, except Kara.

Sighing when it occurred to her she had gone back to thinking about her and Kara's relationship, Lena headed back to her office almost in a haze. It had taken her weeks, maybe months, to show to others she was truthful in her commitments, but Kara took a short few hours. Everyone else said Kara was being naive but she, as herself and Supergirl, was steadfast in her growing loyalty and friendship with Lena. With the knowledge she had that faith, Lena reciprocated it, bonding with the reporter, the both of them allowing the other into their lives. Up until finding out Kara was Supergirl, she had come to think what she had with Kara was something she could no longer imagine life without.

After that of course she was angry, but at the start, she had believed the secrets were because she did not mean as much to Kara as Kara meant to her. It was through stewing in her fury and confusion that the belief was twisted and perverted into a complete lie, that Kara had been feigning friendship just to keep an eye on her or use their connection to aid the DEO in their objectives. But now, with a cooler mind and having processed everything, Lena lamented she had been wrong and cost herself all she held dearly. Nearly all, if Alex was right about Kara forgiving her. Lena came to a stop outside her office door and entered, concentrating on her thoughts.

The emotions had opened up a floodgate inside of her and she knew that if there really was any hatred left in there, the deluge had carried it away. At last recognising the complete absence of her more negative feelings, Lena startled when she felt traces of water slipping down her face. Tenderly, she lifted a finger to the side of her head and grazed it across the length of her cheek, feeling droplet after droplet staining her skin. She did the same for her other cheek, finding lines of tearwater all along it too. Stunned by her discovery, she went to the closest reflective surface and stared at her appearance.

She gasped stammeringly, confronted by what she saw in the glass. The most apt description she would use to label herself would have been that she was terribly miserable. Her face was covered with mixed blotches of red and white. The tears she touched were blossoming away from her glimmering eyes, streaming unequivocally down to her chin and hanging from the edge, dropping to the floor two at a time. Her lips trembled intermittently, signalling to her she was on the verge of breaking down.

Seeing all of that, memorising every aspect of her incontrovertibly evident sadness, she realised and admitted what it was she needed. She was missing Kara. Suddenly, seconds after she voiced the confession in her head, an intense assault of disbelief opened up beneath her and she fell, succumbing rapidly to its power. Lena glared at her reflection, silently accusing herself as she wiped the tears away. How did she let things get so far? Why had she not fought back against the temptation for vengeance? How could she have ever plotted to hurt someone who meant so much to her, someone who in spite of everything that had been done to her, devotedly held her in the same regard after all?

There was nothing for it. She had to see Kara. She _needed_ to see Kara.

As if she had been waiting impatiently for her own command, Lena was off like a shot and at her desk again in moments. Quickly she gathered up the papers she was yet to look over and sign and locked them away in one of the drawers. Following that, she scanned the desk for anything she might need to take with her. Estimating she had not, she picked up the completed forms with one hand and went back into the outer corridor, striding over to meet Jess. Her receptionist glanced up at her with surprise, noticing and recognising she was upholding herself with renewed confidence and purpose. Naturally, Jess was curious about the sudden change in her employer and she assumed a light questioning expression on her face to illustrate it.

Lena simply handed the paperwork over to her. "Get these back to the right departments, please," she instructed. "I need to finish up early today."

"Of course, Ms Luthor," Jess replied. "I'm assuming the rest of today's forms will be done another time."

"Yes, there's something I need to take care of," Lena explained.

Jess nodded. "Will there be anything else?"

Lena gave the question some thought, and then she answered, "Keep your phone close. I might need you to clear my schedule for tomorrow on short notice, if the need arises."

"Okay, sure," Jess said, jotting the details on a post-it note. "If I may be so bold in asking, what is the important thing you have to attend to, just in case somebody wants to know where you are?"

Responding unhesitantly with a tinge of remorse, Lena sighed and confessed brokenly, "I've been doing some soulsearching today, thinking about Kara. I've come to understand I've hurt her badly. It's more than I can bear. I have to make amends with her...before we lose what we have for good."

At first, in listening to Lena wholeheartedly pour out all her troubles to her, Jess reacted with concern until Kara was mentioned and traces of a sympathetic smile appeared on her lips. Before this morning, she had hopes that Lena would reunite with Kara after whatever had happened to sever their friendship and finally put an end to the long month of agonizing distance, only to have them dashed when Lena told her they had fallen out again. The events she witnessed throughout the day served to alarm her further, watching in terror at Lena descending into obvious depression. But now there was that spark in Lena, a motivation to reach for a goal. And that goal involved Kara Danvers.

_Maybe these two will open up their eyes to each other_, she wished privately. _It's certainly taken them long enough_.

"Best of luck then," she offered Lena.

"Thank you," Lena said gratefully, her confidence bolstering. For the very first time that, without any doubtful thought dragging it, she smiled openly.

**: * :**

As night fell across National City, Kara sat still on the lounge in her loft, contemplating with tears the past day, the slowest and most hollow one she had ever endured. For the umpteenth time, she relived the events of the day before, haunted by the methodical precision in which Lena had injected her with the Kryptonite serum and the unflagging dedication she held onto when she allowed the mercenaries to take her and escorted them personally down to the basement.

Shocked and helpless, confusion and hurt reigned within her in those moments as she tried to fathom out why Lena would sell her out to Leviathan after everything they had been through together. Fighting through the pain inflicted by the betrayal, Kara had attempted to speak and ask Lena that, but all she was capable of doing, thanks to the strength of the serum as it coursed through her blood, was open her mouth and stare silently at Lena with a heartbreaking gaze. Swept up in the overwhelming trauma, Kara attempted to get Lena to see her, going on to ignore all the torture Leviathan had arranged for her.

Until Lena finally looked at her. There was anger in the woman's eyes to begin with, then there was a wavering and a rapid transition to disbelief, hurt, and lastly guilt. The twister of emotions left Kara mystified, and out from that confusion came the final thing that cemented her want to know why Lena had gone through whatever deal she had made. The moment the DEO came and freed her, the first thing she did was ignore the effects of the serum and go after Lena, noticing quickly Alex was already in pursuit of her.

Then as she was about to catch up with the two, realising as she approached that Alex had Lena cornered, Kara overheard the awful truth. While she had always known for the past three weeks that Lena knew she was Supergirl, she just never knew how. She assumed Lena had figured it out on her own, but the secret instead had been revealed horribly by the worst person imaginable.

Lex Luthor.

Back when Cadmus was posing a serious problem for her, Kara had always been fearful that Lillian would be the one to use the secret against her and lure and corrupt Lena into evil. Now she knew she had been worried about the wrong Luthor pulling that sick trick.

In the midst of all the heartbreak that rushed her as she quietly understood the revelation, there came about a deep swell of regret, guilt and blame. Kara had known Lena had had enough with people deceiving her, lying to her or hiding things from her, especially after what happened with Tessmacher. But she just had to keep playing with danger, blissfully unaware of the reality of Lena's seething rage towards her.

Coming out of the bitter memory, Kara found herself lamenting that she never told Lena the truth again. With another burst of tears, her mind went back in time, reviewing every occasion where she wanted to confess, travelling from the very beginning to the day Lex was brought down.

The last, most recent one had the starkest recalling, as it dawned on her that Lena had been shown the truth by her brother and she unknowingly had the chance to fix it by telling Lena herself and explaining. She had meant, promised, to tell Lena for sure that day. Instead, she had inadvertently left her friend alone to brood with the fact she was still hiding things from her.

Not for the first time since leaving the DEO in the morning, Kara mentally threw blame upon Lex, at herself, and cursed her sister's name in silence. As with every time before, Alex held her back from unveiling everything to Lena. Why did she always keep listening to her like that, Kara asked herself. She never had to take Alex's advice as gospel. It was her decision to make, but she had to be the good little sister answering to the elder one's subtle yet overbearing and guilt-tripping pleas.

If she hadn't, then none of this would be happening. Lena would never have turned against her. She wouldn't be going through this ordeal. The DEO would not be so maligned towards Lena. Alex would not have to be so guiltridden. She and Lena would not be facing a future as enemies.

Kara froze.

Enemies.

Considering that possibility brought her to an abrupt, immediate standstill. Feeling and hearing her own heart shatter again, Kara remembered Lena's fury and the charged venom in her words when she had blurted out everything to Alex yesterday. Once more, she directed her thoughts on her friendship with Lena and examined all the past reasons why she never told Lena she was Supergirl. The first, of course, was that Alex and the others did not trust Lena because she was a Luthor and were terrified for Kara's safety whenever she was alone with her. After Lena had proven her worth, it was that it was best that Lena was not drawn into the hero's world to give her life some semblance of normality, but that was soon worn thin with Lena either volunteering herself or getting involved because of extenuating circumstances. Then it was a random number of excuses that altogether lasted a shorter time than the previous two had apart. Then there was the time she and Lena had tracked down and confronted Tessmacher in Kaznia, when she was about to tell Lena the truth but held back temporarily when Lena expressed how done she was after the various, many betrayals in her life, with a promise to really tell her after Lex was defeated. But when that time came, as usual, she had gone to let Alex know first but her sister talked her out of it, using their recent entanglements with Lex and Red Daughter as a reason not to.

For a long time, Kara believed that the true reason why she never said a word to Lena about her identity was that their friendship allowed her to be seen only as Kara Danvers and not Supergirl by someone she loved. Just plain, everyday, regular and approachable Kara rather than powerful, unbreakable and unreachable Supergirl. It was a quality she never really had in her life before and she had been afraid to lose that and Lena if her friend ever rejected her. But in a chance conversation with Nia after Lena furiously revealed she had discovered she was Supergirl, Kara was met with an alternate reason.

When the friendly and understanding human-Naltorian hybrid questioned her on why she was so consistently adamant that Lena was to know the truth in the past, Kara could not help but bear everything to the empath, glad to be finally talking about them to someone who was not Alex. Gently, Nia guided her through their conversation, pointing particular things to Kara at times as they went along. Unaware her friend secretly suspected and guessed what the true reason was already and was helping her to search deeper inside herself to find it, Kara listened attentively as Nia worded her personal observations that the way she acted towards Lena was somewhat similar to the way she used to act with James and Mon-El, except the bond between her and Lena was stronger. Closer. Deeper. More devoted to. More fondly held.

The revelation Nia was leading her towards gradually and solidly hit her like a truckload of Kryptonite. Finally, everything she had been confused or torn up about made absolute sense. Probably from early on in their friendship, somewhere along the line, she had developed romantic feelings for Lena. Feelings which had steadily grown over time.

But afterwards, rather than helping her to talk things out and reconcile with Lena, the knowledge made it harder to do in Kara's eyes, often leaving her to wonder if Lena felt the same way about her. She took a chance once, deciding to try repairing their friendship at Pool Night a week prior, but she sensed Lena was maintaining distance. She put it off as work-related stress and chose to leave her be.

Now she knew the truth behind Lena's frigidity. She had been preparing her plan with Leviathan, believing Kara was deliberately keeping on deceiving her, never really knowing how much Kara truly cared about her and how much she wanted her to know. Kara cursed again. Why didn't she see the signs that Lena needed a friend around, to prevent her from falling so far if anything else?

Kara shook her head furiously, causing more tears to escape from her eyes. What did it matter, she thought hopelessly. Everything was all shot to hell. Lena hated her and she was never coming back.

Or so she had thought, for in that moment of surrender, her Kryptonian hearing picked up the faint resonance of a familiar heartbeat. Focusing her concentration, forgetting her issues entirely, Kara listened harder. The faintness of the beating was not from organ failure; it was dull because of a matter of distance. The surprising part was that with each passing second, it drew closer to her, turning from its originally quiet pulse to an instrumental thrum, to a drummer's loud pounding, to a thundering tattoo.

Kara started. Lena was in the apartment building. No, she amended as the pacing increased a hundredfold. Lena was on her level, walking straight for the door into the loft. She stood up abruptly, her mind whirling as she theorized what the unexpected arrival could mean.

Then the heartbeat faltered. It was followed by a short, uncertain breath. Lena was nervous.

And, as it turned out, so was Kara. A moment later, Lena continued until she was right up against the door, the sound of her footfalls syncing with her pulse. Bravely, perhaps feeling a resurgence of hope, Kara ambled over to the door from her side.

**: * :**

Lena approached the front door to Kara's loft. For the second time since she entered the floor hallway, she paused, unsure of herself. Every motion she had taken after leaving the office was planned and careful. She went back to her penthouse to change out of the clothes she had been wearing for the past near-two days, to shower and put on make-up, and getting into a new outfit: a midnight blue blouse, knee-length cream white skirt and black wedge shoes. After that, it was a simple matter of travelling to Kara's apartment complex and making her way upstairs. It was when she ventured onto the floor the loft was situated on that she began to be hesitant, plagued with not knowing what kind of disarray she'd find Kara or her home in because of what she had done to her.

It was this fear again that held her by the door, stilling as it told her time and time again that she could walk away. But the reason for her pause was not to gradually slide into defeated submission, but to fight it and muster her courage for the real battle. Eventually she was ready. Lena inhaled, guessing with the knowledge of Kara being Supergirl that her friend had already heard her coming. She raised her hand and curled it into a fist and knocked on the door thrice.

The door opened slightly, proving her right. Through the small gap between the handle and the frame, Lena glimpsed at Kara. Her breath hitched as she saw and recognised the bright and cheery woman she knew her to be was visibly appearing vulnerable and uneasy. A small period of quiet went slowly by, until Lena swallowed and let the full scope of her own misery show.

"Kara, please. I need to talk. _We _need to talk."

Wordlessly, Kara pulled the door completely inward, granting her entrance. Lena stepped inside and cast her eyes mainly downwards, only choosing to glance up again as Kara closed and locked the door behind them. Turning, the two found themselves facing one another; Lena with unrestrained guilt, Kara with pure melancholy. Once again they froze, unable to do anything but stare.

Breaking the silence by herself, Kara gulped back a sob and directed Lena to the lounge. Lena acquiesced, progressing slowly as she forced her mind to the task of actually conversing with the woman behind her. They sat down next to each other but, despite Lena's intentions, neither she or Kara were feeling up to starting the conversation by mentioning yesterday, Supergirl, Leviathan, the DEO, or how the other was faring. Lena glanced around the loft, taking it all in as if she had never seen it before, as if something in the room was waiting for her to discover it. She soon found it. Alex had told her Kara had been home since morning, but aside from the lights being on, there was no evidence present to indicate she had. There was no music from the stereo. The television was not on. The kitchen sink was empty. There was no leftover smell of takeout in the air. It was as if Kara had come and stayed sitting on the lounge all day.

A horrendous impulse ran through her. What if that was what Kara had done? Lena eyed her quickly, turning away the second she got her answer. The entire front of the white sweater and the collar of the grey T-shirt Kara was wearing was covered in watery stains. Choosing not to address Kara's emotional state head-on, Lena opened the conversation harmlessly by bringing up food.

"Haven't you eaten at all?" she asked.

Kara shook her head morosely. "No," she admitted. "I didn't feel hungry today."

Lena bit back a guiltridden hiss. A solitary tear drizzled down from her eyes. "Why not?" she said through gritted teeth.

"A lot of things. Yesterday. Not telling you about me when I wanted to. I still don't even know why I didn't," Kara responded, stringing complete sentences together on instinct.

"Yes you do. Alex convincing you to hold back," Lena stated.

Kara jumped, staring at her in shock. "How did you - - -

"She told me. She tracked me down," Lena answered.

Kara's face sharply turned red as it constricted itself with anger. "I told her not to arrest you!"

"She didn't, she didn't," Lena raised her hands placatingly. "She just wanted to see and talk to me. She wanted me to know why she kept saying to you not to tell me about you being Supergirl."

"She actually told you?" Kara said doubtfully, raising an eyebrow. "That'd be a first."

"Didn't you know?" Lena asked curiously.

"I made a few guesses. What was it? The reason," Kara enquired.

Lena sighed. Best to give it to her straight, she thought. "She's of the belief that if I ever knew your secret, then your attachment to me would get stronger and that you'd end up outgrowing her."

"Wait. You mean?" Kara gaped openly in appalled surprise. "She thought I'd abandon her?"

"Not so much that. Just that the two of you wouldn't be as close anymore," Lena asserted.

"Oh."

As they trailed off, finishing with the subject of Alex, the foreboding silence that threatened to keep them quiet began to creep up on them again. But this time Lena and Kara's shared reaction to it was different. Rather than let it engulf them, they resisted its pull. Now that they had started to talk and clear some of the tension away in the process, they were not willing to allow the conversation to dissipate into nothing.

"I'm so sorry."

Lena and Kara stopped, taken aback as they realised from the chorused sound of their voices they had said the same thing to each other. The two blushed, smiling in embarrassment and skirting around the urge to giggle.

Kara warded hers off first and continued, her happy gaze breaking as she apologised. "I'm sorry for not telling you. I wanted to. So much. For so long. But I - - I - - - -

"I know," Lena accepted sincerely, embracing her and pulling her close. Kara knelt her head on Lena's chest as she resumed crying.

"No, you don't. Not wholly. There was a time I was going to tell you without going to Alex," she sobbed. "On your jet, after what happened with Eve in Kaznia."

"And I spouted off about how much I hated all the lies and deceit I had from everyone who betrayed me and that I valued you greatly because you never did," Lena uttered in remembrance, shutting her eyes as she groaned.

Kara nodded. "And then I was going to explain everything to you at Pool Night last week."

"I was keeping my distance from you because yesterday was right around the corner," Lena murmured regretfully.

Kara cried again until the fit passed and her voice cleared. Then she asked, "Why were you keeping your distance? You didn't seem to have trouble before then?"

Lena glanced down at her in confusion. Kara smiled softly at her in return.

"Give me some credit, Lena. In hindsight, knowing Lex had told you a month ago, you set up the workers' holiday so that L Corp would be empty, making it easier to trap me."

Her features twisting unnaturally, Lena tore her eyes away. Guilt lashing at her for each one, the memories of all the meetings with either the representative or the woman from Leviathan revisited her. How she wished right now she could be able to turn the clock back and make it so the result of them had never happened.

"I'm sorry, Kara. I was just...so angry with you. I thought you never really cared about me at all," she responded tearfully, watching Kara's face fall as the brutal reality of her assumption struck. "I was in so much pain."

"The goal was never, ever, to kill you. I made that clear to Leviathan when I made the deal with them. I just wanted you to feel my pain in your own way. And I was distant at Pool Night because I thought you were trying to lure me into trusting you again. You're an easy person to have faith in, Kara, or at least easy for me."

Continuing to shed tears as she reciprocated the embrace, Kara lifted her head up to rest on Lena's shoulders and waited until Lena had seen her confession through, tilting back when she had fallen silent and gazed at her. She smiled wistfully, replying in warm honesty, "All you had to do was yell everything you knew and how furious you were right at my face. That would have been enough."

"Really?" Lena asked.

"Out of everything that's happened lately, the only thing that devastated me was knowing that I lost you," Kara nodded, the tearwater shining in her eyes.

Unable to hold back any longer, Lean buried her face into Kara's neck, rubbing the top of her head underneath the other woman's chin. "I think that's why I hated you so much. Because I thought whatever we meant to each other had been a lie."

"Lena, never," Kara vowed, her expression turning serious and loyal.

Gazing upward into her eyes, Lena searched for any hint that detracted truth from the declaration until it dawned on her she'd find nothing of the kind. Kara meant it. Confirming that awakened something in her she had not felt for a long time and she nestled herself deeply into Kara's arms.

"Tell me. Is your name really Kara?"

The Kryptonian spluttered with laughter. "It is. Kara Zor-El."

"Hm. Kara Zor-El Danvers," Lena joked, leading her and Kara to burst out in convulsive mirth.

"That would've been embarrassing in school, that's for sure," Kara replied. "I can hear the bullies now, in silly sing-song."

"Yeah," Lena agreed, catching her breath as the hilarity settled. She glanced down at the floor, thinking as she remembered there was one specific item left to talk about. "Kara?"

"Hm."

"Do you think we can get back what we had or do we just start over?"

Kara grew pensive, mulling the question over in her mind. "I think I prefer the first one," she put forward. "If we're doing this only a day after everything fell completely apart, Alex's involvement or not, then we can't be that damaged." She hesitated for a moment to consider something else, coming to the decision that if one secret could be expressed in full, then so could the other. "Besides, there's another important thing I have to tell you."

Lena stilled, recalling the other central part of her and Alex's talk. Kara's suppressed feelings for her. Breathlessly, she waited to see if it was all true as had been told.

"Before all of this, I was contemplating that there may be something deeper to our friendship. A lot of tics and behaviours I do when I'm around you have been pointed out to me, along with hints that I get on with you more than with anyone I dated previously. And that maybe, well, the reason I kept trying to tell you the truth despite everyone else saying it was a bad idea is because I want us to be closer and I felt I couldn't do that until after I told you I was Supergirl."

Kara halted, attempting to refocus her words once she understood she was on the point of jumbling up her explanation. Then she started again. "I mean, I didn't want to put you in danger. No, I mean, what I'm trying to say is - - -

A quiet, sudden movement from Lena interrupted her as she raised her head up to meet Kara, stunning her with a powerful new gaze. Immediately, Kara felt like she was being hypnotised, weakening as she interpreted the look in Lena's eyes into words. The gaze was deep, unadulterated _longing_.

"I," Kara endeavoured to say, but the rest of the sentence she tried to mouth died quickly in her throat as Lena cupped her head firmly between her hands and edged in. Before she knew it, Lena was kissing her. A scant moment later, she was kissing back.

The liplock was wonderful but brief, lasting ten seconds as they parted, breaking away gently to recognise and comprehend the direction in which they were going to go. Kara and Lena grinned fully at one another.

"I was an idiot," Lena blushed.

"Me too," Kara conveyed, engaging Lena with a second, longer, more passionate kiss. "I should have done this a long time ago."

"Right. Back. At you," Lena whispered lustfully, stealing a four-second-long kiss afterwards. "Now since someone has admitted to not eating anything today, I'm betting she's starving."

"And when was the last time you ate, hm?" Kara asked questioningly, trying to one-up her.

"Lunch. Jess insisted after she figured out I didn't have breakfast," Lena countered.

"Good old Jess, looking after you," Kara said playfully, brushing one of her fingers across Lena's cheek.

Lena teased back in reply, smirking. "If I recall correctly, that's your job, not hers. But now it's my turn to look after your dietary intake. So, pizza, Thai, Chinese, or should I just get a bucketload of potstickers?"

"I think I'll live dangerously tonight," Kara grinned. "The hottest, cheesiest pizza you can get."

As she joyously expected, Lena's mouth fell open in mock horror, as if she was appalled that she had witnessed Kara Danvers turning down potstickers. Coming to see it as the parry it was, she eyed Kara mischievously and selected to play along. "With stuffed crust?" she asked.

Kara nodded vigorously.

"Right away."

**: * :**

The pizza went down faster then either of them could anticipate. Lena gave an astounded look at the empty box it had come in. Its interior had been scrubbed free of every crumb and blob of melted cheese.

"Maybe we should've ordered two?" she suggested to Kara.

Kara refuted her, shaking her head smally. "I don't think so."

"You sure?"

"Trust me. I've got all I need tonight," Kara answered, beaming.

"Maybe not everything," Lena grinned back at her, her eyes turning devious as she placed the box down on the coffee table. Sultrily, she shifted around, moving like a lithe predator onto Kara.

Overpowered merely by the stare alone, Kara was helpless, hardly daring to move, her eyes widening with a mix of surprise and enflamed interest as Lena caught her and wrapped both arms firmly around her prey. She felt Lena's hands clasp together at the small of her back and the series of grazes as the fingers knotted into a practical lock. But the real trap was where she was looking, straight into the dominating twin forest green orbs filled with possessive fire and passion. The flames in Lena's eyes grew more intense the closer she approached Kara, paralysing her into stunned submission.

She fell back, dropping to lie haphazardly down on the seat of the lounge with her feet hanging an inch from the floor and her head clumsily propped up by the side of the arm. Lena held her eyes on Kara as she kicked her legs out violently multiple times. Oblivious to the clattering of wedge shoes being thrown off, Kara remained frozen under the fierceness of Lena's targeted desire. Lena swung her legs up onto the lounge and pushed ever so slightly forward, completing her advance, and kissed deeply into Kara's lips.

Regaining the ability of motion, Kara responded with felicitous pleasure and closed her eyes, letting the kiss ignite every fibre of her body. Ensuring instinctively she did not perform her actions too roughly, she cast her legs over Lena's, tangling the limbs together, and gripped the raven-haired beauty by the shoulders. Kara kissed Lena back, pressing against her lips thirstily. Lena welcomed the reciprocation, succeeding at forming a delighted smile.

From an outsider's perspective, it would have appeared the two were battling for control, striving for dominance over the other. Only it was not. If one were able to take a more watchful look, they would discover Lena and Kara were operating on an even exchange. Lena would kiss Kara first and Kara permitted her to overwhelm her and, when Lena was done, the positions reversed and Kara would bring Lena closer to her as she forced her mouth upwards, smushing them again and again at Lena's. Then Kara would tire and Lena took over, recommencing the exchange. Minute upon minute, Lena and Kara continued on in their way, exerting all their affections and long-held frustrations in incited fervour to show each other they had waited too long.

The make-out came to its gradual finish when Lena, discovering her stamina had been drained entirely, slumped exhaustively on top of Kara and tiredly began to regather her breath. Kara stared at her with worried concern, afraid that they had taken things too far on their first try. She collected herself and prepared to voice her fears appropriately in the hope Lena would not take it the wrong way.

"Um, maybe we're moving things a little too fast?" she probed sheepishly.

Lena's head snapped up an enigmatic and all-knowing smile crafting into shape as she glanced at Kara. "Are we, or are we just making up for a large amount of lost time?" she remarked. "After all, I believe someone here said earlier we should have done this a long time ago."

Taking a moment to contemplate, Kara absorbed the point Lena made and considered to herself the revelation of just how long she had been waiting to be close like this with her. Suddenly, all the worries and concerns melted away. The memorable period of intimacy she and Lena had shared was not enough. Lena saw this through the changes occurring in her expression and openly smirked in ecstatic triumph when they stopped as Kara regained her fire. Willing up any unspent energy left over to match, she readied for the next round.

Inbetween the countless sessions that followed, Lena somehow happened across a means of mental control. With every intense eruption of feeling and joy as she and Kara demonstrated the full proof of what one meant to the other, there was a wave of enormous power that brought with it a deeper want. A temptation to desire more of Kara. Explore more of Kara.

But in the momentary pauses, the brief periods of rest to replenish and start again, she managed to calm it down and relax. She was content with what Kara was giving her, knowing it was far more than she expected to be granted with on her way to the loft.

There were hopes though, an inkling that one day that desire could be satiated. Her fears now set aside, Kara was becoming less restrained in her kisses, her grasping, and her embracing. Moments came and passed when it looked like she was going to overturn Lena and take her completely, but perhaps she thought better of it as she reduced the aggression back to the thrill it had been racing at before those times.

Finally, as the hours stretched just past two in the morning, the last vestige of Lena's energy burned out and she very nearly rolled off the lounge. Just in time, a frazzled Kara caught her and pulled her onto the seat, all the while shuffling her own body further into the lounge's back to give Lena the space to lie on her side.

Lena smiled blearily at her, caressing her cheek softly. "My hero," she sighed, teasing her one more time. Kara blushed.

Then, safe and secure in Kara's arms, Lena fell asleep and she began to dream. Or maybe she was only half-asleep as her visions consisted of her thinking to herself about the future. The apparition of her recalled from her schooling about the various interpretations of redemption and repentance; all of them were different in the elaborated narratives, but they all shared the same basic structure. The road to forgiveness for past wrongs was neither easy or short, but long and hard as there was always someone or something to remind the person journeying along the road of what they had done before deciding to embark on it.

In her mind and in her heart, Lena knew no matter how special tonight was, she had just started to take that road herself and those bitter reminders were likely waiting ahead of her. But she knew as long as she had Kara with her every step of the way and they remained side by side at the end of it, then it will all be well worth it.

* * *

**Whew! What a workout! This has to be the longest chapter I've written for any story, and yet it has so much great content. I hope this was a pleasure for you to read as it was for me to write it. See you when Part Four comes out.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Reunited over the course of a single night, Kara and Lena have begun to embrace the newfound stage of their relationship. But as another day arrives, will they be able to stand against the trials the outside world has in store for them?** **Read on, my beloved readers, read on.**

* * *

Chapter 4 - Repentance

The next morning, as daylight filled the interior of the loft, Kara woke up on the lounge alone. In a worried flash, she realised Lena was neither on top of her or next to her and leaped up onto the floor, standing straight and taking in her surroundings. No object appeared to have been upset or broken. Neither the front door or the windows had been forced in. So no break-ins, she concluded.

She spun around, searching for any sign that Lena had had to leave abruptly. The empty pizza box had vanished from the table but in its place was Lena's phone. Assuring her further was the discovery that the pair of black wedge shoes Lena had worn and later kicked off last night were positioned uniformly in a spot by the wall.

Kara sighed in relief. Lena was still there.

Only then, as she calmed down, did she notice there was a piece of evidence she had overlooked that would have led her to that conclusion faster had she been paying total attention. Her nose twitching, she caught onto a mixed flavour of strong scents in the air. Confused by the presence of the tantalizing aroma, Kara sniffed deeply, inhaling a more potent sample. What was that, she wondered. Something about it was reminding her of the atmosphere of an expensive restaurant, like a combination of foods being cooked in the kitchen and thin wafts of light smoke and invisible steam trailing out into the eating area to capture the interests of customers as they waited for their meals. Just as she made the comparison, three words came back at Kara, making them stand out like a set of sore thumbs.

Food. Cooking. Kitchen.

Her face fell. Was Lena doing what she thought she was doing? Kara pouted, the suspicion making her feel guiltily irresponsible. Lena was the guest, not her. She, Kara, should be the person cooking anything. Or trying to, she rolled her eyes as she remembered every single disaster she produced in the name of mealmaking. Not wanting a detailed stroll through memory lane encompassing her, she headed for the kitchen.

Sure enough, she found Lena there but instead of another fleeting bout of sadness at Lena having to do the work, her spirits lightened with a tickle of mesmerising amusement. A white apron tied at her back, Lena was inexplicably happy, a joyful smile crossing her features as she concentrated on the two hot frying pans on the stove before her and the electric skillet just off to her right. Gaining a more furtive look without alerting Lena she was there, Kara observed just what it was she was preparing.

Four small rashers of bacon and six sausages were sizzling in one frying pan, both types of meat separated from each other and almost completely brown in colour. Over in the second pan were six eggs; two had had their yolks pricked open so that they could be cooked hard, while the other four were being done sunny side-up. As Lena quickly turned her attention to the skillet, spatula in hand, Kara recognised the last element of the delicious aroma as Lena tenderly flipped over the four pikelets inside, returning to the frying pans when she was done.

Satisfied that she had discerned what the smell of cooking food belonged to, Kara surveyed the rest of the kitchen. In its corner, the kettle was steaming from the spout with two coffee mugs waiting to be filled close by with a carton of milk taking up space next to them. The countertop was mostly occupied; a pair of large empty plates were set out in the middle, with a two-litre jug of orange juice standing a little to the left from them, which was accompanied by a duo of plastic cups, a tub of butter, a jar of honey and a glass bottle of maple syrup.

Just how long had Lena been going at this, she asked mentally, her eyes boggling wildly as she was visited with an answer that could not be described as anything other than a long while. Recovering quickly, she decided to let Lena know she was there.

"Mm-hm," she coughed, making a show of bringing a fist to her mouth.

Startled, Lena glanced over her shoulder. When she saw that the person behind her was Kara, it hit her that she had been caught out midway through creating what she was intending to be a surprise before Kara woke up. She grinned sheepishly.

"Morning," she said.

Kara cocked an eyebrow, her amusement aroused further by the adorably innocent act Lena was putting on at her expense. "Morning," she replied, battling to keep her smile hidden. "Care to tell me about all this?"

"Oh nothing. Just wanted to make you something to eat before you got up," Lena answered airily, choosing to keep on playing as she faced forwards, switching off the power to the stove. "From what I remember, the kitchen is supposed to be a forbidden zone for you. And according to James and Alex when they last referred to it, that hasn't changed a bit. I think they said you're still a complete horror at cooking."

Unable to hold a smile back as she made that last remark, Lena took up the spatula again in her right hand and lifted the frypan containing the bacon and sausages with her left, and she turned around to see how Kara was reacting. Her glittering mischievous eyes were greeted with a shockingly rare scowl from the usually gentle blonde, along with the familiar and expected reddening of her cheeks. Lena widened her smile, almost surrendering to an urge to laugh as she moved to the counter. Carefully she slid two of the rashers of bacon and two of the sausages onto one plate and the rest onto the second one. Once she was done, the cheeriness on her face slipped away, her expression turning regretful.

"Besides, while last night went better than I expected," she said, returning the empty pan to the stove and collecting the egg-filled one. "I know I've still got a long way to go of making it up to you for what I did. I guess I just want to do more."

Silence reigned voicelessly throughout the kitchen, save for the scraping noises Lena made as she removed each egg one by one, putting the hard-fried pair on the left-side plate and the remaining four on the right. Then she went to turn off the skillet and piled the pikelets evenly between the two plates, and stepped over to the kettle to start making coffee. Quietly, Kara sighed. She was not going to let this mood have a hold on Lena any longer. Waiting until she had accomplished her current task, she moved towards her and placed her hands on Lena's shoulders and turned her softly around to face her.

"First off, I'm putting Jimmy and Alex on a kill list," she said, trying to revive some of the levity, before continuing to address the other issues that were clearly troubling Lena and leaving her with a heavy toll. "Second, you didn't have to do all this to apologise. Last night wasn't just better, it was good. Really good. And third, it isn't just you, it's me as well. We're both making up for the ways we've hurt each other."

Hearing the reminder of last night from Kara warmed Lena's heart almost immediately. A graceful smile came back to her lips and she shook her head fondly at how easy Kara could make her feel as light as air again. "Are you sure you want it that way?" she asked. "What I did to you was more violating."

"On a physical level, maybe," Kara admitted. Nonetheless, she drew Lena into a full, genuine hug. "But I should have been honest with you a long time ago, once I knew how strong our friendship was going to be. So, if we're going to make each other pay, we're going to do it the right way."

They parted quietly, and Kara saw with an inspiring gleam that the happy face Lena had been sporting before Kara revealed she was aware of her cooking a surprise breakfast was back, all signs of solemnity gone.

"Okay then. Fine. Then as your first punishment under this new regime, you are not to step into this kitchen again," Lena teased. "I'll be doing all the cooking here every time from now on."

Kara's jaw dropped in response. "Hold it, that's not fair. I mean, I'd like to be able to learn how to make something for you. I'll get a teacher or follow a cookbook directly," she stammered in erratic fashion, until she realised exactly what it was Lena had said. Blushing, she asked, "Wait. Every time?"

"Well, if you don't want to make last night a regular thing," Lena shrugged playfully. "Then perhaps we should - -

"No. No, no. I'd like that. I'd like that a lot," Kara replied hurriedly. "Um, speaking of which, do you remember how things ended up last night when we fell asleep?"

"I seem to recall kissing you into oblivion before I passed out," Lena flirted, drawing another blush out of Kara. "And when I woke up, you were curled between me and the back of the lounge."

"Sounds nearly right. But wasn't I holding onto you?" Kara pondered. "You kinda almost fell off and I had to catch you."

"Hm, well, not this morning," Lena answered. "You just had one arm draped over me, like a child caressing a teddy bear."

The blushing of Kara's cheeks grew brighter. In her mind, she was picturing the scenario described to her; Lena rousing from her slumber, waking to see the pleasant smile on Kara's face and gazing down the length of her body to find the arm she mentioned slung over and resting on top of her. Shifting back to Kara, she'd smirk deviously and plant a kiss on the Kryptonian's lips. As Kara would momentarily stir, reacting to the kiss, Lena lifted Kara's arm up and slip out from underneath, pulling away lovingly and slowly put the limb back down on the seat.

Kara shook her head, banishing the vision away and glanced toward Lena. A replica of the devious smirk displayed on her lips, her eyebrows raised as if she herself knew what Kara had been thinking of, Lena pointed in the direction of the living area.

"Now, if Miss Danvers would kindly please return to the lounge and wait, breakfast will be served shortly."

Smirking back at her, Kara put on an act of appalled haughtiness and scoffed in reply, murmuring under her breath as she circled back around in a put-upon huff that Lena certainly had some nerve in taking charge of things at her own home. In reality, she was grinning, and she could tell that Lena too had enjoyed the verbal interplay. Her imagination wandered once more, as she put thought to any more potential occurrences like it happening again in the future. While nothing definitive played out in her mind, she found she was already looking forward to them, no matter the shape they took.

**: * :**

Five minutes later, Lena brought her prepared breakfast out, delivering it to a waiting Kara on a tray. It was not long after that that the exchange of teases resumed. Noticing a now apronless Lena was treading slowly and nervously trying to balance everything she had in her hands cautiously, Kara was tempted by ideas of making her feel even more precariously unsteady. There had to have been something visibly twinkling in her eyes betraying her, because after taking one look at her, a glower of stern warning flashed through Lena's eyes. Kara gulped audibly; she rapidly decided not to attempt anything underhanded until Lena had put the tray down on the coffee table.

By the time Lena had, the mischief reappeared from its hiding place and Kara sneakily conspired to snatch away Lena's plate instead of taking her own. Having caught the glint of prankishness from moments before, Lena was already anticipating trouble and was ready for any manoeuvre Kara was about to perform. She knew the move the second she saw it, watching Kara's eyes dart briefly to her plate before they looked away. Kara flexed her arm almost imperceptibly, and she sent it forward to grab her target. Lena timed her response well, sliding the tray to the left unseen just as Kara's hand came within reach of it. Confidently, still thinking she had got one over Lena, Kara took ahold of the plate she thought was the one she had aimed for, smiling in victory as she lifted it over to her.

She only realised something was wrong after she had her prize safely nestled in her lap and glanced triumphantly at Lena. Her joy dampened once she saw the telltale smirk on her face that she had missed or overlooked an important thing. Looking down at the table, she saw that the tray had been repositioned and Lena's plate was still on it. Her mouth falling open as the truth registered, Kara gazed down further to the plate she had taken and stared dumbly at the four sunny side-up eggs and four sausages that were clear indicators the plate was hers. Lena had thwarted her.

"Good try," Lena laughed. "But I think you need to be a bit more Super next time."

"Are you telling me to play unfairly?" Kara jabbed back lightly.

Lena formed a mocking stare of shocked revelation and put her hand over her heart, gasping. "You're right. Whatever am I thinking?" she said in a stereotypically posh tone. "What improper thoughts."

Unable to contain herself, Kara burst out into a fit of giggles, her eyes practically watering. Lena broke the facade, laughing along with her as she finished the last of her preparations. Taking a set of coasters in hand and laying them out in pairs of two, she sorted out the beverages, standing one of the cups of juice and a mug containing coffee mixed with milk and three sugars in front of Kara and the other juice and her black coffee in their own spots. Then, leaving the butter, honey and maple syrup where they were on the tray and picking up her plate with a single hand, she provided Kara and herself with a fork and knife each and sat on the lounge next to Kara. Smiling to each other, they started to eat.

At the outset of her deciding to cook breakfast, Lena had suspected Kara's appetite would be doubly more voracious than normal, given that the only sustenance she had consumed the day before was her share of their cheese pizza last night. As the next few moments proved, she had guessed right. Kara began slowly; cutting up the rashers of bacon into tiny squares, applying butter and syrup to the pikelets, and slicing up the sausages into cute, circular segments. Then, piercing one of the bits of sausage with the prongs of her fork, she raised the small chunk of meat up to her lips and drew it into her mouth with her teeth. Immediately after the first three chews, Kara's face lit up, ecstatic and wide-eyed. The tempo of her moving jaw jumpstarted, grinding away the food at a frenzied pace, and suddenly it became obvious that one morsel would not be enough for her.

Hiding a giggle behind her mug as she sipped at her black coffee, Lena watched with entertained interest as Kara's minute sampling transformed into a total devourment. In seconds, the rest of the sausages were gone. Next to go was the bacon pieces, picked up singularly as Kara swallowed them whole.

A brief pause followed, leaving Lena to wonder if Kara had realised she had turned practically feral, but then she dove in again, clasping one hand around the cup of orange juice and poured its contents down her throat in a single, gushing take. From this, Lena began to worry that if she wasn't fast enough, her own breakfast would become a victim of Kara's gluttonous rampage. She started upon her eggs just as Kara was shovelling hers into her mouth, wet and sticky yellow yolk dribbling down her chin.

Despite her concerns, Lena found she was in no rush even as Kara polished off her four eggs and set her hunger on the pikelets. But then to her surprise, Kara finally stopped after she had gobbled them up, halting as it occurred to her her plate was empty. Lena stilled, half-curious and half-aware that the moment she slightly panicked over was about to come to pass. She was surprised again when it did not; Kara's cheeks turned red with embarrassment and she hid her face behind her hands. Her features softening as she smiled knowingly, Lena put her plate on the table and brought her hands to Kara's, gently prying them apart. Kara glimpsed up at her like a kid in trouble, shyness twinkling in her eyes. Ignoring the yolk stains across her lower jawline, Lena kissed Kara on the lips. Through the gesture of affection, she demonstrated to her that she did not really mind, that she had never truly forgotten how ferocious her appetite could get on a normal day. That she understood.

Parting from her once she was certain the message had been received thoroughly, Lena rubbed the surface of her thumb along Kara's cheek. "That good, huh?" she enquired, grinning.

Kara nodded, knowing she meant both the food and the kiss. "When did you learn to cook like that? You said you never really had the time or space to learn properly."

"I took some online lessons. After," Lena began to answer, but she quickly became withdrawn, sighing in reply to a harsh memory called to the surface of her mind. "After I stayed away from you, having takeout all the time wasn't as fun as it used to be."

"Online lessons?" Kara asked, directing the conversation away from the maw of silence it had been travelling towards.

Lena chuckled. "Only got good with the quick and easy stuff, so just don't expect anything too fancy from me. I tried that a couple of times but it never really took."

"Why not?"

"Let's just say I might have been distracted by something that prevented me from checking on those meals regularly," Lena chose to say, attempting to shift her eyes nervously away from Kara.

Kara pursed her lips. "Work?" she guessed.

"Work," Lena confirmed, wearing a bashful smile.

Rolling her eyes in fond exasperation, Kara shook her head and replied, "What am I going to do with you?"

The guilty expression Lena had made changed, turning swiftly into a targeting, playfully sly and mischievous stare. "How about we finish breakfast and find out?"

**: * :**

Though Kara knew from the way her cheeks felt like they were burning that she was blushing intensively, she could never deny that the words Lena used and the smooth, seductive manner she had spoken them with instilled in her a sense of excitement. But as she soon discovered, when Lena meant to wait until the both of them had fully eaten breakfast, she literally meant it. Now that she was aware of how much she had been eating like an animal priorly, Kara took to the one thing remaining of hers at a mild-mannered pace. The coffee with milk and three sugars was still warm when she began to drink it, but somehow in spite of the reduced speed she put into it, she noticed when she had consumed it all that Lena had barely proceeded with her food. Then, with a piercing gaze and a rush of affronted emotion, she caught sight of and recognised the suppressed smirk Lena was furtively keeping hidden and the teasing gleam in her eyes.

So that was how it was going to go, was it? Well, she thought, Lena had told her she could play unfairly and neither had she exactly rescinded that allowance after it was pointed out to her what kind of advantage an opportunity like that would give a Kryptonian in a challenge against a human. So she waited, glancing every now and again at Lena as she plodded on with each drawn-out, temptuous bite and sip of her meal. Finally, Lena arrived at the end of it, swallowing the last piece of sausage and washing it down with the rest of her orange juice, and she placed her plate, cup and cutlery on the table. A grin breaking across her face, Kara lunged.

Lena turned out of fright, nearly screaming as Kara took hold of her and thrust her down on the seat of the lounge, going on to mount on top of her. Then, as if by an abrupt flick of a switch, the atmosphere changed completely. The fear in Lena's eyes went away as if it was never there as she swung her arms up over Kara and cracked a smile.

"Oh, please no, Supergirl. Be gentle with me, please," she hummed as if she were a little girl caught doing something naughty.

Slackjawed, Kara gaped back at her and realised she had read the entire situation wrong. Lena had not been making her wait. She had intended it all to get a rise out of her, the very same rise she just explosively answered to. As soon as she admitted it though, there was an exhilaration, a strange feeling of satisfaction in falling for Lena's ploy and she tenderly cupped the woman's face in both hands, moving in to kiss her.

The phone rang.

Shutting her eyes in annoyance, Kara raised her head and groaned. Lena remained the picture of unaffectedness.

"Just ignore it," she advised.

"I've got a better idea," Kara smiled. "Don't make a sound." She picked the phone up off its stand and pressed the "Accept" button. Eyeing and winking at Lena, she then turned on the loudspeaker and knelt her head back to her, capturing her lips for a second before she said, "Hello. Kara Danvers speaking."

"Hello, Supergirl," an unfamiliar voice spoke.

In the midst of grabbing another kiss from Lena, Kara froze on the spot and jerked her head over to the phone with alarm. "I'm sorry I think you have the wrong number," she replied.

"Listen well. I am calling you on behalf of Leviathan," the voice continued, remorselessly ignoring her.

Feeling Lena twitch involuntarily underneath her, she glanced at her with worry and saw that she was also looking at the phone in fear and something else. A clear form of recognition. Lena knew who the caller was.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing more than to pass on a word of warning from my superiors," the stranger answered. "We've been preparing that little trap we caught you in for quite a while and it took us so many hours to uncover what we needed to know about it."

"Well, I'm still here."

"Oh, the point was never to kill or physically maim you. Not even at the start. Although," he thought for a moment. "We would have if Miss Luthor asked us to do that, but we calculated already how unlikely that outcome was. Still, you have no idea how easy it was manipulating her into believing we intended you actual harm. If she had not been so gullible, we would have had to start the whole operation all over again."

"What are you talking about?"

"The torture was never our means of frightening you into stopping from fighting us, Supergirl. _Miss Luthor was_. It's what we've always done with our enemies, have their friends and family turn on them and betray them. Lex exposing your identity to her, twisting her mind, made her the ideal solution. The perfect weapon."

"This is Leviathan's warning. Should you manage to overcome your current trauma, you will never seek to actively interfere with our operations again. If you do, then Lena Luthor will not be the last person to betray you. We will poison anyone's mind against you, and perhaps this time we will persuade them to do something more permanent and crippling to you. Maybe your friend James Olsen, or your coworkers at CatCo or the DEO, your adoptive mother Eliza, or your sister Alex. If we can wing it, we'll even do it with Superman. Kryptonian vs Kryptonian sounds like a sight to behold now, doesn't it?"

Kara did not answer the caller. Gripped in a quivering rage, she glared heatedly at the phone as if the lasers from her eyes could be channelled on through to the other side so he'd be able to see the fury he was instigating. Then she convulsed, her face rapidly switching to an embodiment of dread as she remembered how it was to feel that Lena had been plotting against her. The panic slid sharply into horror, fuelling her to imagine vividly the terrifying and impossible scenario of each person the caller had named betraying her in turn.

Cat Grant returning to CatCo and publishing her identity to the world, making headlines. James leading her into a trap, holding a rock of Kryptonite over her head. The DEO restraining her to a table in a cell, J'onn, Brainy, Nia and Winn watching on callously and uncaring. Eliza performing surgery on her, taking biological samples and announcing the new advancements she'd bring to the medical field. Alex throwing her into an execution chamber and filling it with Kryptonite gas. Kal-El locking her weakened and damaged form up inside a capsule and exiling her back into the Phantom Zone with no means of escape.

No matter the many times she tried to scream in denial that they'd never happen, there was the memory of Lena's betrayal rushing to the forefront of her mind, reminding her it could have gone worse. Leviathan had gone along with everything Lena had ever asked of them, including listening to her restrictions, although that now appeared to be what they meant to do from the outset. What if Leviathan was able to brainwash any of the others so badly that they'd forget the morals they fought to uphold? What if they were tricked, or worse wanted, to kill her?

A witness to it all, Lena gazed miserably up at Kara as the various, fearful expressions crossed her face. Guilt consumed her. Leviathan had been playing her right from the beginning, using her. All to terrify Kara into believing anyone she loved or trusted could betray her if Leviathan ever found a way to get their hands on them. In her heart, Lena knew all this was her fault. She had given Leviathan the key, only thinking about how best to fulfill her revenge while ensuring Kara remained physically safe. And they were using everything it had bestowed them to the utmost.

"I'll take your silence as a yes for now. Your actions will dictate the long-term," the caller spoke again. He ended the call.

_No_, Lena thought passionately. She was not going to let them get into Kara's head like that.

Quietly, she slipped the phone out of Kara's hands, tugging it away to fit it back into the stand. Kara trembled suddenly and Lena focused all attention on her, concern instantly driving her actions. Lifting her hands, she gently put a stop to it and traced her fingers across her eyes and jaw. Slowly, Kara blinked and exhaled, the stress draining out of her as she recognised Lena was there comforting her.

"Did you - - - did you know him?" she asked.

Lena nodded. "He was my contact. He called himself a representative. But we are not going to talk about that or the phone call anymore, okay?"

"But - -

"Kara, listen to me. It's not going to happen," Lena said a trifle more forcefully. "Eliza raised you to adulthood, she's your mother, the kind of mother I wish I had. The DEO, J'onn, Nia, Brainy, Winn, they've all loyally stuck by you through everything. James and Alex would rather burn in hell and die over and over before they'd ever betray you. And Superman, fat chance."

"But Leviathan could find a way," Kara argued. "They did with you."

"I know," Lena admitted regretfully. "But that's because mistakes were made, false impressions formed. They've done it once, but they are never going to be able to do it again."

"Promise?" Kara smiled weakly.

"Promise," Lena reassured, propping her head up and kissing Kara on the mouth. Rejuvenating right away, Kara kissed back. They let their lips linger once the passion was extinguished and spent, parting smoothly.

"So what now?" Kara sighed, gazing at Lena expectantly.

"Now. We are going to make sure that Leviathan never does do it again," Lena spoke encouragingly. "You are going to get off this lounge and into the shower. National City misses its hero and so do I. Knowing that Supergirl is back so soon after their so-called successful plan might cause Leviathan to rethink their position."

Her words sent a much-needed shot of inspiration into Kara's heart, eliminating all of her demons at once and creating a renewed sensation of boldness. The confident, bright, joyful and positive aura she had forgotten she carried with her in life returned to its full strength, almost as if the representative had never even got inside her head. Smiling glowingly, Kara snatched another kiss from Lena and sped off in the direction of her bathroom.

Keeping her face equally vibrant, Lena waited until she heard the trickling of rushing water and then she allowed it to cave into the sorrow she was truly feeling. She had cheered Kara up, but she had not done the same for herself. Her soul still felt heavy, weighing her spirits down. Just when she thought she was getting somewhere really great with Kara, her mistakes had thrown yet another curveball to jeopardise her life emotionally. Leviathan had played her like a violin; she had let them get to her and to Kara. She had to fix this. Somehow.

Swept up in dealing with her ruminations, she lost track of time and Kara was out of the shower before she realised it, dressed in her hero outfit and standing in front of her, presenting herself. Abruptly, Lena reformed her encouraging smile and got up from the lounge, looking Kara over. Eventually, she nodded.

"Good," she said appraisingly.

Kara beamed happily and embraced Lena in reply, planting a kiss on her cheek as she answered, "Thank you so much."

Lena returned the gesture with open affection. "Be safe, okay," she pleaded.

"I will. Pick things up where we left off later?"

"I'll ring you," Lena promised.

Kara gave her a kiss in response, holding on for a minute, and then she dashed off to the balcony outside, leaving Lena breathless. Turning once more to grin wholeheartedly at her as she summoned a burst of acceleration, she waved at Lena and jumped upwards, rocketing out of sight. Lena sighed in defeat once she knew Kara was far away from her and her enthusiasm waned, her thoughts revolving back upon her new problem.

The first thing she did to assuage her guilt was to clean up the kitchen. Taking all the plates, cup, mugs and cutlery back on the tray, she went over to the sink and started to fill the basin with hot, soapy water. Once it was three-quarters full, she turned the tap off and set about washing everything she had used to prepare and serve breakfast, rinsing them until they shone and leaving them on the rack to dry. After emptying the sink of the used water and polishing its surface with a dishrag, she collected the butter, maple syrup and honey and put them back in their proper locations. Keeping the fridge door open after placing the butter in there, she retrieved the juice and milk and shelved them inside the cold receptacle, swinging the door shut.

Realising hollowly after that that the work was done, it occurred to her that nothing could restrain the troubles inside her head without something for her to do and she deliberated with herself to find an answer to resolve it, especially since suppression had only transpired to be a short-term solution.

Maybe she should go to work, she thought. That would help her mind to settle for an indefinite period of time. But then again, she reconsidered, maybe the dilemma was potent enough that it could serve to distract her greatly from her other responsibilities. No, she concluded with a sigh, this had to be nipped in the bud. But how, was the real question.

**: * :**

Deciding to return to her penthouse, thinking there was nothing more at the loft she could use or do to alleviate her mental struggles without Kara around, Lena left, ensuring the front door was shut and locked before she departed and headed there in hr car. Upon reaching her domicile, she elected to take a quick shower and change her clothes, throwing on an officewear ensemble of a white button-up shirt and a black coat and pants with matching slip-on shoes. She looked at herself reflected in the mirror afterwards, puzzling over why she had chosen to put on such garb when she had already dismissed the idea of going to L Corp.

Her eyes flared instantly. She had forgotten to inform Jess. Hurriedly, she raced to get her phone and dialled her receptionist's number.

"Ms Luthor," Jess answered promptly. "I'm assuming you're calling to inform me you won't be coming to work today?"

"That's right, Jess," Lena responded, nodding.

"I'll clear your schedule as you recommended. Did everything last night go as well as you hoped?"

"Better, but there still are some things I have left to resolve about it," Lena replied earnestly.

"Take whatever time you have to. I know how much you need this," Jess said back. "I'm glad you and Miss Danvers seem to be making progress."

_More than you might think_, Lena thought. "So am I," she affirmed verbally, actually smiling as she reminisced about her and Kara's recent time together. "Thank you, Jess."

"No problem, Ms Luthor."

Lena hung up the phone, intending fully to resume her contemplating her next course of action when the device vibrated in her hand. Questioningly, she examined the screen. The registry identified the caller as an unknown number. Gulping silently, understanding who it could be, she answered.

"Hello."

"Miss Luthor, glad to hear you're alright," came the relieved voice of the Leviathan representative, although Lena had a sure suspicion that the relief was false. "I thought the DEO had managed to capture you as they had with our team."

"They almost did, but I got away," she eventually spoke. "The strange thing though is that they haven't come after me since. No arrest orders, no warrants, nothing."

"We've discovered that, yes. Maybe they think you could somehow lead them to us," the representative commented, his voice turning crisp and formal.

"That's not possible, is it?" Lena queried.

"Using you that way could cause Leviathan some damage, but it would be minor. Fair, at the extreme. The most you could give them are the locations we've met at as well as the faces you've seen. Paltry fare really, but the crimefighters have been known to latch onto that."

"So what now?" Lena prodded.

"Leviathan was able to obtain a copy of security footage from the L Corp basement and it's been concluded the mission was a success. Supergirl was terrified throughout the whole procedure, so we are satisfied she will leave us and our operations be."

Incensed hatred pulsed through her like deadly wildfire. However, Lena reined it in, biting her tongue and holding back from lashing out in her rage. How she wanted to tell him at the height of her voice she knew he was lying, that Leviathan did not just use her as a means of getting to Kara but fashioned her into a psychological weapon to traumatize her lover into believing they could use anyone else she cared about to destroy her. Releasing her tongue and gritting her teeth instead, she forced herself to say, "Yes. I have to admit it's satisfied me as well."

"Excellent. The results have benefited both parties then," the representative replied, believing her claim. "The Kryptonians will no longer see that they are invulnerable in this world nor will they ever be, and you have your revenge. Sadly, I regret to inform you that our successful partnership must be brought to an end."

"How so?"

"Don't worry, Miss Luthor. We're not going to get rid of you," the representative promised. "But now that the DEO knows you are affiliated with us in some way, we have to minimise the potential damage I described to you moments ago. It's a necessity, given none of our operatives were able to escape."

"I see," Lena responded, grinning secretly. Leviathan had no idea Kara was well on her way to recovery and also they had not learned anything at all about her and Kara's reconciliation. Thinking about that again brought her concentration to a smashing halt and summoned a gentle, tingling, burning sensation once it was apparent to her just what she had labelled Kara as in her silent, quaking rant. She had called Kara her lover. "So it's, um, an amicable parting of the ways."

"Yes. Goodbye, Miss Luthor."

"Goodbye."

Glancing at the phone as she put it back in her view, Lena observed the screen as the internal system indicated to her the call had been ended on the other side of the connection. Then, with a sudden crackling jolt, the phone glitched, muddling the display from its untouched appearance into a blurry fuzz. After about a minute, the static cleared and the phone appeared fine. Accessing her call history, Lena searched through the list. All the entries regarding the unknown number and therefore Leviathan had vanished without trace. From wherever they were, they had wiped out any evidence they had communicated with her.

Slowly, Lena took a breath and pressed the phone to her chest, unsure whether she should be feeling disturbed that they had cut her off like that or relieved. Lifting her head, she gazed at herself in the mirror and regarded the clothes she had chosen to wear again. A single revelation dawned gradually on her. At no time whatsoever during their impromptu meeting yesterday did she ever give Alex any information about Leviathan. The subject had solely been about her, Kara, and their relationship.

Suddenly she had the answer she had been hunting for all morning. Last night she had begun to mend things with Kara, but there were others she needed to do that with also. And more to the point, she confessed gravely, she had to hear any harsh words they wanted to say, shout or yell about her betrayal and how it made them feel, no matter how brutal they were.

So it was that she left her penthouse and went back down to her car. Resolute and certain, she drove straight towards the DEO. Getting out of the car after pulling it to a stop in one of the spaces in the adjoining parking lot, she stared up at the building. Not once did she think about what kind of welcome she would get; she already knew. Unerringly and with an expressionless face, she ventured inside through the front doors and made her way over to the admittance desk. The man and woman on duty there looked up, gaping as she approached. Around her, the members of the security team stationed in the room flinched, recognising her as well but edgily they stayed put, likely because they were under orders not to arrest her.

"Excuse me," she said to the two at the desk, reaching them. "Can you please inform Director Danvers that Lena Luthor is here? And tell her that I surrender."

Eventually, the woman responded, nodding in acquiescence as she grabbed a phone and waved one of the security team over. "Escort Miss Luthor to an available holding cell," she told him as she turned her head to speak into the receiver. "Yes, hello. Pass this message onto Director Danvers. Immediate urgency."

* * *

**Where will things go from here? Find out in the next chapter, the fifth and final part of _Reckonings_.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Lena is officially handing herself over to the authority of the DEO in search of possible redemption from her other friends. How will it all end, and will it affect her and Kara's relationship? Find out as you read this, the final chapter of _Reckonings._**

* * *

Chapter 5 - Resolution

It was an oft-held belief by those who handled officework at the DEO that in spite of the arduous missions the field agents undertook, they were the ones with the most difficult jobs in the organisation. Keeping the Director happy and convinced that everything was running like clockwork and without issue was persistently demanding and had an overall effect on their morale. Whenever the Director was pleased or satisfied, the emotional aura of the workplace felt lighter, less fraught. When the Director was upset, stressed or furious, some measure of that was able to leak into the outer offices and instill a fearful dread that the next task or report any of them had to carry out could make the Director snap at them.

Yesterday had been one of the latter times. After Alex Danvers had returned from her search for Lena Luthor, the woman had appeared drained, exhausted and on edge, barely hiding that she was enduring a great turmoil. So the office workers treaded carefully, guarding every step and movement as though something fragile was going to break at the slightest tremor. Fortunately, nothing happened.

Next morning, the current morning, heralded a different story. Although it had seemed certain the mood was going to be an inevitable repeat as the Director arrived, starting her shift with a tensely stoic demeanour, that all changed when Brainiac sent a message from his laboratory. Supergirl was back, signed in and already embarking on her first patrol of the day. Hearing the news, Alex brightened visibly and took to her duties with reborn enthusiasm. And from that, levity was restored to the office workers and they laboured onward positively in their favourite conditions.

That is, until one nondescript employee named Mark got a phone call from the reception desk downstairs and jotted down the notes from the information he was given. Anyone who looked or listened his way blanched, their happiness spoiling as they gazed at his rapid and uneasy deflation to outright nervousness. Once he had got everything written on a slip of paper, he thanked the woman on duty at reception and concluded the call, getting up to go to the Director's office with the slip in hand. His coworkers watched with growing anxiety as he entered the room, announcing his presence to Alex with a small knock on her doorframe. Still in her jovial temperament, Alex beckoned him inside and gestured for him to leave the note on the desk for her to read later as she was in the middle of an important phone call with someone in government.

Mark left it as instructed and walked back out, glad at least he would not have to bear in person the brunt of the outpouring of vented rage he knew was going to happen. By the time he was sitting at his desk again, he realised there was no noise coming at all from the Director's office. For a moment, Mark wondered if Alex had just finished on the phone and was taking a breather or she was in the process of reading the note. Vainly, he hoped it was the former.

"WHAAT?!"

It wasn't.

**: * :**

Lena spent the entire journey to the holding cell in handcuffs. Back at reception, the security man had simply meant to escort her there and guard her until Director Danvers arrived to take control of the situation, which for the life of him he could not fully understand. While he knew of the acts Lena had committed against Supergirl, he was also aware of the fact both the Danvers sisters had no wish to have his charge arrested. But Lena had insisted otherwise, demanding to be cuffed as well. Not wanting to escalate the issue into an all-out argument, he accepted her request.

Along the way, Lena found herself the object of many stares from the agents she and the security man passed by. Some were of anger, others disappointment. Once or twice, there were a few sad gazes. Then, at one pivotal moment, she came face-to-face with James. His expression displayed an unexpected confusion at seeing her right in front of him before his mind alerted and his face scrunched into a pure, darkened fury. His brown eyes flamed as though he wanted to be able to shoot lasers out of them again. She herself was frozen in fear.

The security man smelled danger and he moved Lena forward wordlessly, leaving James behind them to glare at their backs. A while later, they reached the supervisor maintaining watch on those who went in and out of the cellblock.

"Surrendered prisoner to temporary holding cell until further notice from the Director," he reported.

The supervisor eyed Lena beadily, giving her a cursory glance, and she examined a clipboard. "Interrogation Room Five," she answered.

The security man nodded and led Lena a few steps down the hallway behind the supervisor, took a left, and walked the length of the new corridor until they came to the fifth room along. He pressed his fingers to a pad on the wall. The door to the room slid open and he ushered Lena inside. Taking her to a chair situated on one side of the table standing in the centre of the cell, he glanced momentarily between the handcuffs locked around Lena's wrists and the tiny, solidly thick U-bolt with a chain fastened into the table's steel surface, suddenly unsure. Lena nodded at him. Acknowledging she was giving him permission, he picked up the chain and interlocked its other end into the cuffs' link. His job done, he shunted over to the wall and leaned back against it as he and Lena waited for Alex.

The first indication they got that she was coming was their hearing the cellblock supervisor dimly saying in the distance, "Interrogation Room Five". Then came the paired noises of combat footwear cracking on the floor repetitively, the sounds growing louder and sharper with each step taken. The security man gulped inaudibly when the cracks began to be accompanied by a low antagonized hiss and he started to sweat. Alex thundered into the holding cell, her face brick red. Her eyes fell first on Lena in the chair, then to her further aggravation she saw the handcuffs and followed the chain to the U-bolt. She glared at the security man, ready to threaten him.

"Don't blame him," Lena said worryingly. "I asked he do this."

The fury in Alex's eyes emptied a little. Exhaling, she instead addressed the security man formally. "Dismissed."

The security man saluted her, responding to her command and hurried outside, racing to get back to his post. Once he was out of earshot, Alex rounded on Lena, her face going apoplectically red again. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she demanded crossly. "I know Kara's out and about on patrol right now, thanks to whatever you said or did when you saw her."

"There's been some new developments with Leviathan this morning that I don't think she's mentioned to anyone but me," Lena answered coolly. "They called her, using me as an example that they'll be able to trick anyone else she loves into betraying her. Even you."

"Me?" Alex whispered, caught in waves of disbelief as the colour of her face plunged from deep scarlet to pale white. Shocked, she moved to the opposite end of the table and sat in the chair allocated to it. "She can't really think that - - -

"If I could, so could you. That's really what they were counting on to scare her away from opposing them," Lena explained. "I set her straight though. I told her she shouldn't let them get to her." Her expression grew contemplative, appearing almost sad. "She actually listened to me. She still does trust me. She forgave me just like you said. I don't know why, but I get this little feeling that she did it too easily."

Against the horror she was entrenched in, a chunk of amusement erupted from Alex, bursting out through the gaps between her teeth as the suppressed bite of laughter it was. "I thought you would've figured out that one by now. That's just Kara being Kara."

"I do know that and, don't get me wrong, I feel elated because of it. But I've come to realise there was something else. You were right, when I was angry, I wanted to hurt Kara and not anyone else. But in targeting her, I betrayed you, James and everyone I know here," Lena stammered. "I...want to know how I stand with them right now and from here on out, and if there's any chance of earning their trust back or not. And they have a right to say however they think of me to my face, and I deserve the consequence of seeing and hearing that. I want them to have a go at me, not as a fallen friend looking to fix mistakes and make things right but as a prisoner to be questioned for crimes she committed."

Clearly moved by the sincerity in the confession, Alex considered what Lena wanted. She thought about their friends and comrades and how they never really had the opportunity to properly express and vent their emotions as she and Kara had. Winn, Brainy and Nia, she felt no qualms about bringing them to face Lena. J'onn was a concern, but not a solidly valid one. The person she was particularly worried about was James; even this morning, while everybody else was happy to see Kara back at work, his brooding had not diminished in the slightest. He remained morbidly quiet, often glaring at anyone who tried to talk to him. She knew that if she were to let Lena go through with this, he would be the first to volunteer and all hell was at risk of breaking loose.

"Are you one hundred percent sure about this?" she asked Lena. "I understand you do have an idea it won't be at all pleasant but it might be more soulcrushing for you than you think."

"All the more reason for me to bear it," Lena replied.

"Okay, okay, if it'll make you feel better," Alex accepted in defeat, sighing. "On one condition. If Kara finds out I let this happen, you take all the blame."

Lena nodded. "Done."

Assured by the promise given, Alex unclipped her communicator from her belt and raised it to her lips, pushing down on a switch. "Attention. This is Director Danvers. Attention. The following personnel are to report to the Interrogation Room corridor: Brainiac, Nia Nal, Winn Schott, J'onn Jonzz, James Olsen. That will be all."

She turned to Lena. "I'll be back once I've straightened everything out with them."

Lena gave her her assent in reply. Alex stood and walked out into the corridor, stepping just out of sight. Alone in the room, Lena wondered who she would be meeting first. With any luck, it was probably James; in their short standoff, he definitely looked like he had some harsh words for her, if words were what he wanted to deal out.

She was soon to have her answer as before long the echoing sounds of people approaching and gathering near the opening became clear to her. Listening in intently, she paid attention to those who spoke, trying to overhear just what was being said. Alex overrode them all before she could understand any of it, and only caught the Director's order for silence and her explanation describing what was going on. Lena did not hear any outbursts, so she considered that a good sign and she gazed down at the table to wait time out. Finally Alex returned, joined by another. Lena glanced up.

The first person to see her was J'onn.

As he took the chair Alex had vacated, with the Director herself standing by the doorway to ensure none of the others barged in before it was their turn, J'onn fixed Lena with a stern and reprimanding stare. Guessing he was skimming the contents of her mind with his telepathy, Lena kept nothing secret from him. After an indeterminable while, he relaxed, his face losing some of its severity.

"It's good to know your fall was merely temporary, Miss Luthor," he said, bearing an enigmatic smile. Lena shivered involuntarily, realising he must have seen a part of her and Kara's reconciliation. He made no word of it however and produced a recording device from inside his coat, setting it on the table and pressing the button for it to start. "Now, tell me what you know about Leviathan."

Initially dumbfounded that the confrontation progressed from heavy silence to friendliness to actual questioning so fast, Lena started spiralling off everything. How, in a similar way to her mother, the representative succeeded in bypassing all of L Corp's security measures and reached her office to recruit her assistance. Of how Leviathan had been supporting Lex's plans in the past, as a part of their goal in making Earth distrusts aliens by framing Kara. The argument with Kara the day Midnight attacked, which Leviathan somehow learned of. Meeting the woman for the first time and understanding from what little she was told about the organisation's hierarchy. Labelling the different places of the meetings that followed the first. Describing the faces she met as best as possible. Springing the trap on Kara and taking her to the basement with the mercenaries.

She finished by referring to the two phone calls Leviathan had made, detailing the first exactly as to how it had affected Kara and her, and the second in how the representative kept up the original pretence that the trap was about inducing into Kara a fear of physical vulnerability, unaware Lena already knew the truth.

"And they gave no names? No clues to their identity?" J'onn inquired.

"None."

The disguised Martian blew out a small breath of frustration and switched off the recorder. "I will say this for them. They know how to stay under the radar far better than any enemy we've come up against before."

"But they're not that clever or resourceful, and they don't know Kara like we do," Lena pointed out. "Judging from the fact they contacted her to threaten her with their true goal, they haven't discovered that she and I are reforging our relationship."

"That is probably because they've been trying to keep themselves hidden again so well that they have not noticed it yet, but you're right," J'onn stated emphatically. Alex nodded in agreement.

Collecting the recorder and placing it back inside his coat, J'onn raised himself out of the chair. "Thank you very much for your help, Lena. It may not be a lot, as you no doubt expected yourself, but hopefully this will one day lead to Leviathan's downfall. I hope to see more of the old new you in the future."

Brightening, Lena replied, "Count on it."

J'onn offered her a return smile and headed outside. Vibrant and ready, she eagerly awaited the next person. In walked James. Her insides plunging to cold, fearful depths as she locked eyes with him again, Lena squirmed underneath his scathing glare. James pretended to ignore her reaction and stiffly marched over to sit in the empty chair. For twenty long minutes, he did nothing but stare at her, as if he were attempting to instigate a panic or provoke an act of violence from her without moving a muscle or uttering a word. Inevitably, when she made it apparent for him she was not going to speak, he did.

"So, if what I heard from your little talk with J'onn is right, Kara's forgiven you already?"

"Yes. She has," Lena nodded slowly, gulping in quiet.

James increased his malevolent stare tenfold, narrowing his eyes, determined to a catch a lie from her. Finding none, he clenched his teeth and muttered in a low growl, "Is she being kind or being stupid?"

"She's being Kara," Alex spoke up defensively.

James snapped his head around to her, fixating his glare to her instead. Maintaining the enraged expression that appeared when she interrupted, he demanded of her, "How can you be convinced by this? After what happened the other day?"

"She got Kara back in it. That's all I need," Alex stated reproachfully.

"Maybe you, but not me," James replied pointedly, turning back to Lena. "I'll stand by just this once, but I'm warning you right now, Luthor. If you ever hurt Kara like that again, no order to leave you alone is going to protect you from me."

With that, he moved to stand and made to go towards the open door. Emotions flowing from her, Lena cleared her throat and spoke pleadingly, "James, wait."

Halting at the threshold, James circled back to face her again. Lena gazed at him in tear-filled apology, her eyes sparkling clearly with open guilt. Unexpectantly wounded by the genuine pain he saw, his veneer of hostility failed and he gave way, showing to her and Alex the agony he truly felt.

"I know what you want, what you're looking for. But I can't give it to you," he began to confess, trying to keep his voice steady. "Do you remember how long it took for me to believe I could trust you, that you were different from Lillian and Lex?"

"Yes," Lena said, nodding morosely.

"Then you can imagine how angry, furious I was to see what you did to Kara. In that moment, I didn't see the woman who worked so hard to prove she was not her family. I saw an enemy embracing her blood heritage," he looked up at Lena disappointingly. "I gave you my trust and in spite of everything I told you I had to get past to do that, you...you squandered it. And you're never gonna earn it back, no matter what you do this time. If what you say about you and Kara is true, I will work with you, rescue you if you get in trouble, tolerate your presence at social gatherings. But I will never be your friend again."

Cowed and saddened all at once, Lena sobbed, "I understand."

James almost faltered, making it seem like he wanted to say something more, but with another flare of anger, he decided against it and strode out of the room. From her spot by the door, Alex regarded the crestfallen Lena with sympathy and said consolingly, "You knew it would be rough going in."

"I know," Lena said, brushing at her face with her fingertips as she wiped away her tears. "At least I have a clear idea on where he and I stand."

"True," Alex agreed. "It went better with him than I thought it would. I honestly believed he was going to attack you. I'll still be keeping an eye on him in case he makes trouble." She glanced outside. "Nia, Brainy," she called out. "Time to decide which of you comes in first."

The two in question poked their heads into view. Trying very hard not to smile completely at their awkward entrance, Lena recognised from the uncertain looks traded between them that they had not yet settled on who would be speaking to her first. Alex came to that conclusion also, nearly rolling her eyes in exasperation. Reacting nervously, Nia took a further step forward, meaning to be the one when a shrill noise broke the weighted silence. Lena searched all around the room in confusion until she saw Alex and Nia had turned towards Brainy in alarm.

Brainy in turn had thrust his hand into his shirt pocket and withdrew a device that visibly throbbed in his grip. He stared at its display screen, his eyes furrowing as he went into his "calculating mode" In three seconds, he operated its controls, twisting a knob, zooming out the image with a touch of his fore and middle fingers, and pushed one of the buttons. Then he stalled, gaping openly.

"Uh-oh."

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.

"Brainy," Nia said coaxingly when he did not answer Alex right away. He did not answer her either, triggering some distress in Lena.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" she exclaimed.

Nia slipped the device out of Brainy's hands and examined it for herself. Her face fell. "She's still in flight and hasn't responded?"

Brainy nodded. "More than that. I estimated which one of her flightpaths she's using," he said fearfully. "She's coming straight here."

"And without her being in danger, there's only one reason right now why she wouldn't respond. She's angry," Nia paled. Quickly she acted, handing Brainy the device back and spun round to Alex. "You'd better get Lena out of those cuffs fast. Kara's on her way here. I think she knows what's going on."

"That's not possible," Alex refuted. "This building is soundproofed to even her hearing. The only way she could if she was inside it. Lena, is there any way she could have found out about this on your side of things?"

"No, I didn't tell anyone at all," Lena replied, still swept up in her confusion.

"Then the answer is obvious," Brainy joined in. "Someone here has, I believe the word is, blabbed."

"But J'onn and James had something to say to me and they don't have any reason to tell Kara behind your back, Alex," Lena surmised, addressing the Director before turning to Brainy and Nia. "You two were waiting to talk to me and had no idea Kara was heading here until now. So that leaves...

"Only one candidate," Brainy and Nia said in unison.

"WINN!" Alex bellowed. "GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Timidly, the son of the infamous Toymaker emerged from hiding, grinning sheepishly in discovered embarrassment. "Hey there, Lena. Long time," he said, putting up a faint handwave.

"Hello yourself, Mister Blabbermouth," Lena frowned with a hint of greeting curling at the corner of her mouth.

"Winn, I told you not to tell Kara about this. That was a direct order," Alex remanded him.

"I know you did, okay, but I couldn't go through with it. I had to let her know. You want to know why? Secrets. This whole mess started with keeping secrets," he exclaimed, staring mainly at her and Lena. "Had Kara done what she wanted and told Lena a long time ago, we could have avoided the problem. So how about, instead of keeping even more secrets, we move forward from this by being more open with each other for a change?"

An awestruck feeling enveloped through the entire cell, taking everyone into its folds. Impressed by the boldness Win showed in his defiance, the others fell into a subdued quiet. Then Alex said numbly, "You still disobeyed an order."

"No offence, Alex. I've gotten so desensitized to you always being angry that I can weather your temper out. Kara on the other hand, her being angry, that's a rare and terrifying thought," Winn argued, trembling towards the end.

Lena shivered reluctantly, her green eyes bulging in worry. "He's right. I've only ever seen her furious when one of us ends up hurt. She wasn't even angry at me for betraying her."

"That's because she's afraid of losing you and what the two of you have," Alex smiled warmly as she stepped over to her and unclasped the security chain, tossing it to land haphazardly across the far side of the table. Next, she plucked out a key from a pouch and used it to start undoing the handcuffs.

"Hey, how does that machine of Brainy's know where Kara is?" Lena asked curiously.

"Promise not to tell," Alex requested nervously.

"After what Winn here just said about secrets?" Lena mentioned, raising an eyebrow.

Alex sighed. "Point taken. It's Kara's new suit," she explained. "It has a nanotech security system. It lets us know where she is, monitors her life readings, and sends us an emergency signal when she's been exposed to Kryptonite."

Lena's eyes widened as she figured out something from the other day. "So when Leviathan's team and I were getting Kara down to the basement?"

"We were already mobilising, yes, that's how we got there so fast," Alex answered.

Managing to twist the key around in the insertion point the correct way, the handcuffs were unlocked just in time. From overhead, the skysplitting noise of an object travelling at high speed reached their ears. Alex fearfully looked up, gathering the steel restraints in her hands, and felt a mortal stab of panic.

"Not through the roof. Not through the roof. Not through the roof," she wished desperately.

The next sound to be heard was a distant, dull thud from outside the building, granting Alex relief. She hurried along, knowing suddenly there was not much time left, and hung the handcuffs from her belt. Dashing away from Lena, she formed an expression meant to fool her sister into thinking she had the cuffs on her all along and hoped against hope it was enough.

By the time she made it appear halfway convincing, Kara was standing in the room. Having run at superspeed the minute she made landfall, she rushed into the DEO, sending astonished agents scattering and leaving disruptive chaos in her wake, making her way to the holding cell as she sensed Lena's heartbeat. With barely any warning, she raced into the room, immediately throwing a frighteningly livid face in Lena and Alex's direction.

Minutes trickled past as she regarded the two of them. Quite a few times over, Lena thought about getting up and attempting to explain without implicating Alex in the situation, but as time wore on, she realised that Kara was struggling with choosing whom to talk to and not trying to contain her hurt. She let her be.

Finally, after some minutes more, Kara was calm. Her face had been restored to its normal colour and the fury was gone. The problem there was that the fury was replaced by welling tears, the sight of which was eating away at Alex and Lena. The emotional outpouring reached its zenith when Kara made her decision and centred her eyes on Lena.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked sadly.

"With what happened with Leviathan this morning, I thought I hadn't been given enough punishment. I wanted - - - I wanted you to be mad at me for what I did, what I caused," Lena replied brokenly. "I like where we are now, Kara, but I don't deserve it. I should be forced to take a much slower path, learn what others think of me."

"Oh Lena," Kara breathed, her voice and feelings melting as she came to the other woman and caressed her cheek. "Is that what you really want? For me to punish you?"

"I hurt you. I let you get tortured and you just forgave me for that without thinking. I betrayed you for less," Lena admitted on the verge of tears.

Initially at a loss of words, appearing forlorn as she took back her hand, Kara deigned internally to figure out how to respond. Ultimately, she chose to go for a simple route: try to get Lena to laugh.

Putting on a simpering, playful smirk, she said to Lena, "Okay then. You want a punishment? Okay. No making out between us for three days."

The attempt worked. An inexplicable motion shot up from deep in Lena's chest and came out between her lips, revealing itself to be a giggle. "Please. My mother could do worse than that when she's in a good mood. That's more like a temporary grounding," she spoke, fighting to hide her continuing laughter behind her hand.

"It's still a punishment and it's all you're going to get from me," Kara stated with finality. Softly but openly, she dropped the playacting and fell back on her true emotions. "Look, Lena, all I want to do is move forward with you. I don't hate you. I don't blame you. In fact...I love you."

Upon hearing and taking in those three words, Lena felt her heart swell with joy as her eyes expanded, enlarging as she rose up and hugged Kara. Knowing from the embrace and the amount of affection Lena was displaying, a light blushing tinge stretched across Kara's face and she reciprocated.

"You don't mean to carry out that ban at all, do you?" Lena whispered to her.

"Nope," Kara said, grinning. She leaned back, endeavouring to face her girlfriend. "So, lunch?"

"I think I might know a few places," Lena suggested, winking an eye.

"Well, give me a moment to get into something casual and we can go," Kara replied.

She slipped her hand inside a hidden pocket of her supersuit and pulled her pair of reading glasses and a hairband out into view. Sharply flicking the eyewear open, she nestled them on the bridge of her nose. In a number of seconds, the suit evaporated, sucked molecule by molecule into the frames, showing Kara to have been dressed underneath in a canary yellow blouse, a matching caramel brown coat and pants, and grey flat, formal shoes. She worked her fingers into twisting her hair, applying the band to the back of her head and fashioned her blond locks up into a matted bunch.

"How do I look?" she asked.

Lena glanced down and then up. She smiled in approval. "Pretty. Pretty and adorkable."

Kara smiled back and went to kiss her. A stammering noise interrupted her advance. Instantly, she and Lena remembered they were not the only people in the room and turned to the others with pink faces. Brainy was flabbergasted but quiet. Winn was smug. Nia was grinning loudly, tucking a section of her forefinger inbetween her teeth. The noise, it transpired, was coming from Alex.

The DEO Director gaped at the couple, her features going white with disbelief as her lips mumbled unintelligibly. "M-m-m-making out?" she put out roughly.

"Um, oops," Kara muttered, slinging her palm to her head. "I think I broke my sister."

"Well, I'm no expert, but I think mentioning how things are really going for us may be too much for even her to handle. After all, one would not want to know details about their younger sister's lovelife," Lena said in her ear.

Letting her hand fall to her side, Kara shook her head and strode over to Alex. Still dumbstruck, her sister looked at her blankly. Kara surprised her again in the next moment, smiling lovingly and gratefully at her as she threw her arms around her. Alex immediately forgot about her shock, feeling every nerve of hers firing as the relieving warmth coursed into her body. She released a sigh of joy and wrapped her own arms around Kara's waist.

"Thank you. Thank you so much," her sister said to her.

Alex sniffled and confided bravely, "I just needed to learn to let you go."

"You did, but there's one other thing you need to learn too. It may not be as much as it has been before, but...I will always need my big sister," Kara confessed, pulling back to show Alex she was crying happily.

Sharing the same feeling, Alex carefully brushed her sibling's tears away. "Your girlfriend's waiting."

Kara nodded, turned and went back to Lena, taking her by the hand. Lena responded with a heartfelt grin as she allowed Kara to lead her outside into the corridor. Alex, Nia, Brainy and Winn followed them to the doorway, watching the two depart and as Lena entwined her arm with Kara's. The couple beamed at one another brilliantly, walking out of sight.

Nia, still grinning, removed her finger from out of her mouth. "Well," she spoke aloud. "It's about time those two came to their senses."

**: * :**

Lunch, as it turned out, was only the beginning of a blissful, enticing afternoon.

Determined to ensure Leviathan did not mar their past for life, Kara and Lena chose to dine at Noonan's. At first, the regulars saw two friends they had not seen together in a while patching up their issues. That opinion changed midway through their meal when a kiss to the cheek from Lena to Kara happened. Jaws collectively dropped when Kara answered with a full-on passionate kiss. Amongst the throng were several of Kara's coworkers from CatCo; most were frozen with astonishment, one however remained alert enough to snap a picture of the kiss on his phone. Noticing this, after they drifted apart, Kara mouthed quietly, "I've got a feeling we're about to end up in the tabloids."

"I don't care," Lena retorted. "Compared to other things they've written about me before, maybe I should let them publish something truthful for once."

"Oh my, the scandal. They're supposed to be friends," Kara joked.

"No, no, no. The signs were there all along," Lena played up an argument. "They just had to realise it."

They returned to Kara's loft afterwards, planning to have time and space to themselves after the arduous morning and the public lunch. But as was usual with the life of a superhero, nothing went totally according to plan. The first interruption to their lovemaking popped up when Kara's superhearing caught wind of a store robbery occurring sixteen miles away. Sighing in frustration with a little bit of egging on from Lena, she donned the Supergirl outfit and flew off. Once the robbery was dealt with and the three perpetrators arrested, she was all set to head back to Lena, but then came the traffic-light failure at a four-way intersection, the gas leak, two armed thugs attempting to steal from an old lady, the abusive boyfriend harassing his girlfriend in public, the religious zealot accosting a friend for being homosexual, and a second store robbery that took place thirty-seven miles from the loft.

She was finally able to make her return and prepared to take Lena in her arms again when she heard the far-off screeching of a car out of control. Groaning while eliciting a cheeky smile from Lena who was beginning to find the uncharacteristic impatience amusing, she dashed outside once more. Again, one thing was followed by another; five idiots decided to raid a bank, a fire was started in a school kitchen, a level of scaffolding was negligently knocked down at a construction site, and an argument between a cab driver and a customer required resolving.

Tired and irritable with crime itself and the abundance of incidents, she went back and found Lena sitting relaxingly on the lounge, swallowing a gulp of warm coffee as she read something on her phone.

"Something interesting?" she asked.

"Our little lunchdate just made online news," Lena remarked, turning the phone in her hand to show Kara the article, which contained a digital copy of the photo she spied being taken at Noonan's.

Kara examined the headline. "Megacorp CEO finds romance with Famed Reporter Friend," she intoned, trailing down to the subheading. "Is it love or another publicity stunt from L Corp?"

"Publicity stunt?" she snapped, echoing the two words she had mainly taken issue with.

Lena chuckled. "You'd think one of the more legitimate publishers would be calling us for confirmation by now."

"Have they?"

"No," Lena said, her voice deadening a pitch. "But James did. He called your home phone and when I answered, he hung up."

"He hasn't called me on my cell," Kara thought. "I guess he thinks you being here was more than enough answer."

Lena sighed unhappily. "To be fair on him, he wasn't with the others when you arrived."

"He talked to you? Back at the DEO, I mean?"

"Yes. He said he'll work with me and save me when I need it, but he'll never be my friend again," Lena recounted. "But I guess that'll be upheld less."

"It mightn't," Kara tried to reason.

"I've been in his place," Lena shook her head. "Feeling alone, hurt and betrayed. The worst thing is he can't make sense of why you and the rest of the others are so quick to forgive me, as if nothing happened."

"James...was the hardest to prove about the person you really are," Kara said. "There's all the bad experiences he's had with Lex, all the grief. And he knew from the start what Lionel and Lillian were like. With you, he just couldn't see past the Luthor name. Even when he finally opened up to you, I think there was still a part of him that didn't."

Lena nodded in agreement. "A part that's dominant again, with good reason," she murmured gloomily.

"Don't talk like that, okay?" Kara spoke with an edge of pleading, going down on her knees, clasping Lena's hand. "We have to accept that he won't approve of this and move on. And speaking of moving on, any plans tonight?"

"Well, there's something I haven't done in a long time," Lena drew out her answer with a resurging mischievous smirk. "Tell me. Has innocent little Kara Danvers ever gone nightclubbing?"

"A couple of times, with Alex. But I always ended up being a wallflower at those things."

"You wouldn't be a wallflower tonight," Lena hinted devilishly.

Kara found herself unexpectedly grinning in aroused interest.

**: * :**

The night was a wilder experience than the afternoon. After getting Kara into a knee-length sapphire blue dress and dropping by her penthouse to pick up a sleeveless, dark black dress with a pattern of silver glitter for herself, Lena took her on a nighttime jaunt neither of them would forget.

Across four different dancing establishments, Kara's opinion of the nightclub scene was greatly changed. During the early couple of times with Alex years ago, sitting through countless boring hours by a wall, all she thought about it was that it involved an outcry of ranting noise that was supposed to be music, drowned out by the total ruckus of people laughing, yelling, screaming and even ululating as they rollicked and swerved to their own beat and rhythm, creating a visual and auditory mess. Attending it with Lena brought about a tremendous rediscovery; with her girlfriend beside her or in front of her, depending on how they were dancing, Kara revelled in knowing at last what it was like to be the centre of someone's attention while on the floor and she started cutting loose. For some reason, Lena began to laugh, guffawing at the top of her voice. Kara laughed too, not clearly understanding why but guessed she would find out in time.

Drinking at the bars was something she was more used to, to the point that it felt milder and calmer than permitting your soul to run riot and express its desires in the free movements of dancing. On the first round of tequila shots, Kara thought it fair to warn Lena that alcohol really had little to no effect on her.

"Alright," Lena shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll give you my car keys. You can drive."

Kara glowed at that, seeing from the explicit, unrestrained joy on Lena's face that her girlfriend was unquestionably having the time of her life and celebrating every moment.

After a long tour of ten more clubs and bars, the duo ventured back to the loft. Laughing rowdily as they reached the front door, Kara a little tipsy and Lena completely drunk trying to keep herself hoisted up on Kara's shoulder, they went inside without a care in the world how loud they were being. Once she had closed the door behind them, Kara found her head tugged in another direction as Lena pulled her over for a heated kiss. Kara surrendered, returned it, and lifted Lena up off her feet into her arms.

"Bedroom this time?" Lena asked breathily.

"We can't keep doing it on the couch forever. After a while, that wouldn't be so comfortable," Kara exhaled.

"Hm. I guess. But, Kara?"

"Yes."

"I love you, I do. This is good, perfect. I don't want to ruin it," Lena mumbled. "Nothing would give me greater pleasure than being more personal with you, but I want to do it right. I'm not ready to, you know, take that next step with you properly. I mean, if you are...

"Shhh," Kara whispered gently, raising a finger against her lips. "I understand. We've got a way to go before that. That takes time, building our relationship. More than what we've done right now. But I promise you, one day, we will get there together."

"I know we will," Lena sighed, resting her head. "I love you."

"I love you too," Kara replied heartwarmingly, pressing her lips softly to Lena's temple.

Soundlessly she carried her into the bedroom and laid her gingerly on the waiting mattress. Taking a moment to herself, she regarded her girlfriend fondly as Lena turned over onto her left and curled inward, her mouth forming a dreamy smile. Then, regaining her senses, she performed a final chore before retiring. Leaning forward, she pried Lena's shoes off her feet and removed her own. After setting both pairs of footwear by the closet, Kara yawned, stretched her arms, and climbed onto the bed to nestle beside Lena. The couple exchanged one more conscious stare between them and slowly they embraced the serenity of sleep. Falling deeper and deeper into its realm, they started to dream of what the next day was going to be like.

Though the reality it transpired to be would not be as fantastic, they would discover it to be just as wonderful. National City commenced its daily routine. In the celebrity segment of the morning news, the subject of Kara and Lena's relationship was referred to and contested. Lena returned to the office at L Corp, wearing dark-tinted sunglasses over bloodshot eyes and sporting a hangover but nonetheless looking as cheerful as a spring day. Kara became Supergirl again, soaring high above the cityscape and going on patrol to save lives and right wrongs with some casual assistance from the DEO.

Then, at around twelve, a recovered Lena received a text message from Kara if she would like to be treated to lunch. Lena answered "Yes". In a heartbeat, she heard that sharp, speeding whistle in the air and she knew with delight Kara was approaching. She revolved her chair around to face the window, watching as the object of her affection came into view. Kara deliberately slowed down in her flight, meaning to catch Lena's eye, and she waved. Lena waved back, understanding from the signal she was going downstairs to enter the building in her human persona. Smiling, she spun back to her desk, eagerly awaiting for Kara Danvers to walk right in and whisk her away. For the first time in her life after experiencing so many cruel hardships, some of them brought about by her own making, Lena realised she finally had the two things in her life she always desired to have but which for one reason or another had constantly eluded her for years.

She had someone truly special that meant the universe to her, and whenever that close, warm and inviting person was near, when Kara Danvers was in the room with her, she was happy.

And minutes later, when she herself entered the office and felt as though she were basking in the radiant presence of the woman who loved her, Kara realised something as well. She felt the exact same way.

In their minds, they knew how much of an unusual couple they were and regretted that it had taken them so long a time and so much grief and doubt to get around to the current stage of their relationship. But, just as soon as they had thought about it, they pushed it afar and left it on the side of the metaphorical road they were on. Because of what they were, what they had been, and what they wanted to be. A Kryptonian and an Earthling. A Super and a human. Friends. Confidants. Lovers. Soulmates. Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor.

Together, at last.

* * *

**Thank you, one and all, for giving me the chance, support and encouragement to continue writing this story to its conclusion. I have been asked once or twice already if I could write a sequel to this, and while I can say there are ideas (some of which I've left clues towards at certain parts), there is nothing concrete at the moment. So, for the time being, I ask that you please act that this is the end of it for now. Thanks again.**


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